


Beyond the Event Horizon

by shinyopals



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (this is not a copy and paste retelling - dialogue and plot are very different to original movie), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers movie canon divergence, Awesome Jane Foster, BAMF Jane Foster, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jane Foster Loves Science, Jane is better at science than Erik, Loki is an asshat because it's Avengers 1, POV Jane Foster, POV Loki (Marvel), POV Thor (Marvel), POV Tony Stark, Sorry but it's true, Thor (Marvel) is Not Stupid, i mean he's always kinda an asshat but he was way more so in this movie, like a whole lot of hurt and a whole lot of comfort, no non-con or threats thereof, slightly above canon-typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-07 08:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyopals/pseuds/shinyopals
Summary: Jane Foster's been working on the Tesseract for six months - making breakthrough after breakthrough, taking astrophysics beyond where she'd ever dreamed possible - despite the watchful eyes of SHIELD hampering her progress and meaning she's no closer to finding Thor. Then one night, the cube's energy surges, and another figure from Norse mythology drops into her life, needing her help. The problem is: this one's not quite so friendly as his brother.(The Avengersretelling, where Loki takes Jane instead of Erik.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you as ever to [Niobium](http://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for somehow finding the time to read this!
> 
> I am super aware this is not the only one of these fics in the fandom - it's been in my head for years and I've avoided reading those fics so I could get this written and ready to go without being influenced.

It should have been a quiet night. 

It would have been a quiet night, anywhere else, but nights on the base were never as quiet as Jane wanted them to be. Long, dreamy nights under desert skies felt like a lifetime ago. There, in SHIELD’s space, instead of starlight and flickering flames against rocks and scrubland, she had fluorescent bulbs and computer displays as big as her trailer illuminating reinforced concrete and piping, every inch covered in security cameras. 

She had quickly grown to hate it. 

But SHIELD meant money: not just for Jane, but for her equipment, and for hiring Darcy properly. And SHIELD meant the existence of aliens was a given, not an uphill argument that made her peers think she was crazy. 

SHIELD also meant the cube. 

That was why she was still there, of course. She lived in the blue glow and the shadows it cast. It had been dug up in the second world war, they’d told her - used by Hydra and then found in the aftermath of Captain America’s death. (Or not-so-death, as of a couple of weeks ago, but that was still heavily classified intel and therefore all anyone at SHIELD could talk about.) They’d passed it around from secure facility to secure facility, sometimes studying it, sometimes leaving it in lockdown. Jane had the notes and the papers, dating back decades. Iron Man’s father had done some work on it, back in the day, before SHIELD was even SHIELD. He hadn’t found much. Nor had anyone since. Jane had memorised most of the notes before she’d got a first look at the Tesseract, but as soon as she had they’d all seemed to melt away into insignificance. It was captivating. 

Energy, SHIELD wanted, and some other stuff they weren’t saying. She didn’t care about any of that. Infinite energy was great, but with arc reactor technology being developed by a fairly un-evil mega-corporation, it seemed like a nice bonus. _She_ was there because the Tesseract was meant to be a doorway to another world, and that was kinda her thing. Not to mention the other reasons why she wanted to build a bridge.

She’d done more in six months than SHIELD had in six decades, and she didn’t plan to stop.

‘You need to make sure you get some more sleep,’ Darcy had told her before heading off on a week’s vacation. (And that was another thing SHIELD provided - vacation - not that Jane ever took any.) ‘Hey, you, archer dude, make sure Jane sleeps.’

The archer, one of the newest security types around, had shrugged and not made any promises. Jane wasn’t sure why SHIELD had hired a modern-day Robin Hood to help protect their top secret research projects, but didn’t care enough to argue with anyone about it. If he tried to make Jane go to bed, though, she had a lot of cracks saved up about bows and arrows.

All the same, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he looked... familiar. So she’d looked him up. _Barton, Clint_ had a long career with SHIELD and a heavily redacted file, at least at her clearance level. She was confident that if she poked around more she could get some more answers, but she was pretty sure she’d only ever get one attempt to hack SHIELD so she was saving it for her resignation. _Barton, Clint_ had been in New Mexico and that was all she needed to know to know why he was familiar. Presumably Thor had beat the crap out of him while she’d watched, hiding on the hill. Mystery solved. The Tesseract was more important than SHIELD’s weird recruitment choices, so she’d stopped stalking the archer and got back to work.

Even when she closed her eyes she could see the cube. Like it was watching her as much as she watched it. The eyes of a god, maybe. 

Of course, she’d seen the eyes of a god. Or a sort-of-not-really-god, anyway. But even behind all that power and the thousands of years of wisdom, they’d been kind and warm and crinkled at the edges when he’d smiled, just for her, like she was the only person in the universe. The Tesseract wasn’t kind and warm when it watched her. It was cold and blue and impersonal. Raw power and potential that could be used if she could just unlock it.

SHIELD had minimum safe distances, though, and security to back it up. SHIELD alleged that if she touched it she would die. That wasn’t an impossible assertion, given the energy signature, but she’d like a bit more proof. The Tesseract wasn’t unfriendly, after all. It was just alien and distant and inhuman. Surely all it would take would be to correctly protect against the energy outpouring. But SHIELD were conservative and afraid and didn’t want her to try everything she could. About ninety percent of her ideas were rejected outright. 

One of these days, she was going to write a resignation letter and it was going to be epic.

Then, one cold, should-have-been-quiet night, the Tesseract’s energy surged out of nowhere and sent everyone panicking. Staff evacuating. Fury on the way in. Barton clocking in early - bringing Jane a coffee as he did. 

‘It’s gonna be a long night, Doc,’ he said.

Jane blinked at the coffee and then up at him. She didn’t think they were friends. But then he was gone, up in the wings of the room because apparently he preferred heights. Whatever. She shrugged. Coffee was coffee. She’d picked it up and then turned back to her computer and the Tesseract itself. 

The surge was a sheer volume of energy, the likes of which SHIELD had never seen in all sixty years. The room itself seemed to shake. Some of the exotic particles being detected were entirely new to Jane, and that was enough to send a thrill right through her. This was so completely uncharted, she couldn't even imagine what she might see. Alien gods existed; who knew what else? She could feel the Tesseract energy under her skin, vibrating through the room, and she scratched at her hands compulsively, unable to look away from the cube itself. Around her, there was alarmed chatter from the other scientists and security team, and beeps and alerts on her computer, but none of it seemed to matter. The blue glow held her. This wasn’t coming from her or from SHIELD. She didn’t even think this was coming from anyone on Earth. And with that thought, her heart leapt, because maybe, just maybe…

But this wasn’t time to think about that. This was time to think containment, unfortunately. The base could be evacuated and they were in the middle of nowhere so they were probably safe. However, strictly speaking they hadn’t actually worked out what the limits of the Tesseract were, so there was just a slight chance the entire planet was screwed. She should probably worry about that a bit more, if she was honest with herself. It seemed important, right up until the Tesseract once more caught her eye... 

_No. Focus. Safety first._ She shut her eyes and scowled to herself. Containment and absorption of energy were the key. She didn’t want to suggest chucking it into space, or even using it to try and create a wormhole and sending it through that wormhole. It seemed more important to keep it there, with her. 

She forced herself back to her computers.

‘Talk to me, Doctor.’

Jane jumped and looked up to see Fury striding into the room. ‘Director, hi!’ She hurried over to him, rubbing her eyes as she did and pushing her hair back. How long had she been at her work, she wondered. ‘I don’t know what it’s doing. There was a massive energy surge…’ She glanced at her watch- ‘a few hours ago. It’s growing. Peaks and troughs at the moment, but the spikes are growing and so is the background radiation. There are particles in here we've never even seen before!’

‘You know, if you sounded a little less pleased I’d be a lot more comforted,’ said Fury.

Jane frowned. ‘This is the most progress we’ve made in months! Everything we’ve done has been based off a neutral state. We have to poke and prod and see what reaction we get. This… this is something else. Something is happening. Something somewhere else is causing this energy surge.’

‘And perhaps that might be a bad thing,’ pointed out Fury.

‘I didn’t say it wasn’t!’ said Jane, scowling. ‘It’s just interesting! Don’t you think? Who knows what this could be.’

‘Fascinating,’ said Fury drily. ‘Where’s Barton?’

Jane waved a hand vaguely towards the ceiling. ‘Somewhere,’ she said, returning to her screens. She didn’t think she sounded unreasonably excited. This might just be their only chance to get some real, brand new, useful data. Maybe they might learn what the Tesseract was, where it came from, what it could really do…

But _containment_ , she reminded herself. _Massive energy surge. Possibly planet-destroying._

She grabbed one of the other scientists. ‘How much vibranium has SHIELD got?’

‘None. Tiny amounts. What are you-?’

‘What about the shield? Captain America’s shield? Is that really vibranium?’ 

He nodded.

Jane squinted at the Tesseract. She could build a vacuum shield. She could also build a lot of energy containers and dampeners. But from what she knew about vibranium, a casing of that might be enough. There wasn’t enough time to get the black market - which she knew existed and knew she couldn't afford - to ship to the Mojave desert, but surely SHIELD could get Captain America’s shield melted down in a few hours if the fate of the universe was at stake.

She turned back to where Fury was talking to Barton and began to hurry towards them and-

-the Tesseract spiked. Blue-lightning shot out. The entire building rumbled under her feet and shook around them and she suppressed a yelp. Fury and Barton, who’d been right in front of the cube, began to back away. The sparking light grew and grew and grew and then _surged_. A solid stream of burning energy shot from the cube, through the focussing devices and down to the dais at the other end of the room, surrounded already by shielding, however inadequate it would no doubt prove to be. The energy began to bloom outwards, a giant bubble pushing against the shields. Behind her she could hear shouts and alarms but in front of her she could _see stars_. 

She began to stumble forward, almost without thinking. It was so beautiful, and it could help her, and-

Fury’s arm held her back, broke the spell. She was pushed to a stop and she shook herself. She wasn’t that far gone, surely? Maybe Darcy was right, and she did need-

The energy exploded outwards, the force of it sending her staggering backwards with a yell, Fury and Barton staggering with her. The whole room shuddered at the tidal wave of energy. She heard more shouts from those behind her, and the crashes of equipment falling, and even, then, when it calmed down, the flutters of papers hitting the ground.

High up, at the ceiling, blue-white waves broiled and rolled. On the dais itself, she could make out the figure of a man and a sceptre, for now still covered in blue flames from the portal itself. Fury’s hand tightened on her arm. Of anyone, he would be the one to read her first thought, her hope and impossible dream of who it might be.

As the blue cleared, though, that hope was dashed. The man on the dais was dark-haired and slender. He had his teeth bared, though whether in a grin or in pain Jane couldn’t guess, because he looked sick: pale and with sunken eyes and a sheen of sweat. Portal travel might be dangerous, she speculated, and she almost opened her mouth but again Fury tightened his arm and pushed her backwards, even as men with guns began to move forward. 

Right, yes, unknown invader. Maybe leave SHIELD to do that bit. 

‘Sir, please put down the spear!’ ordered Fury.

Jane hit the ground with a painful bump before she even realised what had happened. Fury was on top of her, protective arm across her. He’d been pushed aside by Barton and had pulled her down with him. What-? Her brain was suddenly jolted to reality by the gunshots. An attack. For a moment she lay there, stunned by the impact, as the sounds of the fight came into focus. Automatic gunshots rattled. Whole-body crashes sounded as men went flying. She hadn’t seen anyone fight like this since-

‘Get out!’ barked Fury at her, as he pulled himself towards the Tesseract. 

Barton had already gone, back in the fight and then flying into a wall.

For a moment more, Jane was frozen on the spot, but at Fury’s furious gesture she began to scramble backwards, arms and legs shaking and trying to keep her head down and away from the bullets. She needn't have worried though, because abruptly the firing had all ceased. 

It took a moment for her to realise that might be a bad thing.

‘You have heart,’ said the stranger, not to her but to Barton. Then he tapped Barton’s chest with the sceptre and something… changed. Barton froze into place, his eyes glazed. The world stood still. 

Then Barton holstered his weapon, his whole post relaxing. Jane couldn't help but stop and gape incredulously.

‘Please don’t.’ The stranger had turned, addressing Fury now. Jane suddenly realised Fury had quietly taken the Tesseract, packed it into a case. The stranger’s voice was even, polite, calm, belying the attack he’d just levelled. ‘I still need that.’

‘This doesn’t have to get any messier,’ said Fury, also calm, but the threat in his voice was more obvious to Jane.

‘Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard-’

Jane barely suppressed a panicked yelp and thought his eyes flickered towards her even as he continued to trade words with Fury. _Shit. Shit shit shit._ She remembered a silver giant, tearing up a town. She remembered Thor flying through the air, falling broken to the floor after begging for their lives - for her life. She remembered them only being safe when Thor had regained his strength. She remembered the short time she and Thor had had, after he’d flown her to the Bifrost site and while they waited for the others, and the heaviness in his eyes when he’d said his brother’s betrayal must run more deeply than he could have imagined, and that no human could hope to fight him, and that she would be safe on Earth.

The Tesseract was out of place now, so nobody could follow Loki through. SHIELD were on their own. _Fuck._

But she’d never met Loki. He wouldn’t know her. He couldn’t know her. She would just be just another human. If she could just stay on the floor and inconspicuous then everything would be fine and she could help trace the Tesseract if Loki stole it and-

‘...I kinda think you mean the other thing,’ she vaguely heard Fury say, drawing her back to the conversation.

And then Loki was in front of her.

‘Sir, Director Fury is stalling-’ began Barton, but Loki held up his hand.

‘Jane Foster,’ he said. There was a smile curving at the corner of his lips.

Panic gripped Jane. She scrambled backwards frantically, anything to get away from this man who’d tried to kill his own brother when that brother was unarmed and helpless. She didn’t understand how he was here. What did he want? How did he know her-

He leaned down over her and pointed forward with the sceptre. 

It touched her heart. Her panic vanished. Her heartbeat slowed. Everything was fine.

She had work to do. 

She stood up. Her legs were steady now. ‘Barton’s right. This place is going to blow,’ she told Loki. Her own voice sounded distant, not quite right. ‘We need to get out. We’ve got barely minutes.’

‘Well then,’ he gestured.

Barton shot Fury, and grabbed the Tesseract in its case. Jane reached for it. It was hers. Her mind made that clear. Barton knew that too. He handed it to her and she clutched it. She knew what to do. She knew what was needed. And finally she could actually do it, without anyone holding her back.

~*~

The base collapsed behind them. The helicopter fell. Their pursuers went defeated. Barton kept driving them, away and away, to safety and their purpose. Jane clutched the box holding the Tesseract, her knuckles white. It had never been so clearly hers before and she was not prepared to give it up. It was shielded enough in the case that the radiation or energy signature wouldn’t hurt her, but would probably still be detectable by someone smart enough. They hadn’t buried all of SHIELD, just some of it. They needed to protect the Tesseract.

When they stopped - for gas, ludicrously - she voiced this to Loki and Barton.

‘SHIELD has enemies,’ said Barton. ‘I know somewhere we can go, where you can work.’

‘Good,’ said Loki. ‘For work it’s to be for Dr Foster.’ He was in pain still. 

‘Were you injured by the crossing?’ asked Jane, frowning, as she and Barton supported him.

‘I’ll heal,’ hissed Loki.

‘We need food,’ she told Barton. ‘Asgardians eat a lot. Like, so much.’

‘And you would know, of course, _Jane_ ,’ said Loki. His grin was still more bared teeth than with any real humour to it. Jane regarded him. She had the vaguest sensation that something not normal was happening, but to try and figure it out right then was like swimming through treacle.

Barton shrugged. ‘I’ll get food,’ he said. ‘But I don’t have cash. If I use my credit card they’ll trace it. And out here, everyone at this gas station will have a gun, so we need to be ready to go once the gas is pumped.’

‘You want a portal,’ she said to Loki, while they had this chance. She knew that much. She could feel it in her heart: a purpose to fight and to die for. And why else would he need the Tesseract. She tightened her grip on the case, as if that very action would bring it closer to her.

‘You can build me one,’ he said.

‘Of course,’ said Jane. ‘I could have built one months ago but for SHIELD’s interference.’

That grin again. ‘Barton’s fighting me, ever since I took him. He’s fighting me with all of his heart and soul and he’s losing. But you? You’re not even trying. My brother will be so disappointed. He thought you strong. But you’d have done this if I hadn’t even used the sceptre, given a little persuasion.’

‘Not to where you want to go,’ pointed out Jane politely. Somehow she couldn't really remember why her original goal had been important. 

‘Oh, I like you,’ he said. ‘Maybe when all this is done, I’ll keep you for a time.’

Again the feeling of disquiet. His purpose was her purpose, and her heart was his heart, but somewhere in the back of her mind it felt like something wasn't entirely right.

‘Why did you do it?’

He blinked at her. He hadn’t expected that. ‘I thought that was clear enough to you.’

‘No, not “why did you come here”,’ said Jane. ‘Why did you try and kill your brother? Last year.’

‘He’s not my-’ She could feel the sudden spike of anger through to her bones. _Don’t do that again,_ it told her. 

_I just might,_ she told it back, although she didn’t know where that voice came from. 

‘Who gave you the right to question me?’ demanded Loki. He grabbed her arm and it _hurt_ , but she was his so the pain was fine.

‘You want a scientist,’ she said. ‘You need a scientist. Scientists ask questions.’

He spat on the ground. ‘When he comes for you, I will kill him.’

That didn’t seem relevant. ‘When I have questions about what you need this portal for, I hope you’re going to answer them properly,’ she said. ‘Or else it’ll be two-foot across and it’ll take you to a cornfield in Iowa.’

‘We’re done. Get in the truck,’ ordered Barton. ‘I’m going to get us food and water.’

Again, Loki bared his teeth. ‘Come in the back with me, Jane Foster, and I’ll tell you a little of my dear brother, if you want to know.’

Jane followed, although she wasn’t sure any more that she wanted to.

~*~

Her new lab started out grubby and under-equipped and smelly, and filled with more men with guns. She didn’t much care for any of that. However, she reeled off a long shopping list of basic equipment and that was provided quickly enough. She also got Loki to sit down and actually talk specifics, although getting it in scientific terms was a struggle. He was looking healthier due to (or perhaps despite) a lot of gas station twinkies, but there was still something sunken and haunted in his eyes.

‘You look disappointed,’ he told her, as she began to sketch out a design from his plan.

‘Well a huge stable bridge will be pretty amazing to create,’ she said, ‘but I’ve had plans for that for ages. What I was really interested in was how to tie down or aim the other end of the bridge. You know, some sort of space coordinate system. But you say your army can lock onto the Tesseract’s signature. Which is more efficient, I’ll give you, but less interesting.’

‘The point of this exercise is not to be “interesting”,’ he told her, one eye twitching. There was an irritable tone in his voice that she felt bad about inducing. She should have known better. 

‘I know, I know, I was just saying,’ she said. ‘Anyway, I’ll need some things sourced that these guys won’t have in their junk drawers.’

‘Barton, here,’ he called. Barton appeared at his shoulder. ‘Tell us.’

Jane pursed her lips. ‘Well iridium is an option,’ she said. ‘But I told SHIELD I wanted that a while ago and it was going through the approval process. It’s very rare, and they’ll be on the watch out for anyone going after it. It also… well, there’s a limitation on the size of the portal I can create with iridium. If bigger is better…’

‘It can be,’ said Loki. ‘It needs to be stable.’ His eyes twitched again.

‘Of course,’ said Jane. ‘Otherwise, what’s the point?’ She wrote down a list. ‘I need all of this. Most of it’s doable from plenty of labs, but...’

Barton read the list. ‘Half a kilo of vibranium?’ He sounded skeptical. Jane didn’t entirely blame him.

‘There’s a black market. It’s expensive, but it’s there. South Africa’s your best bet. It’s either this list or Iridium and a slightly different list, but SHIELD knows about that, like I said. If you want time to get in and get out-’

‘I can get the vibranium,’ said Barton.

‘Good,’ said Jane. ‘Get on with it, then.’

‘I think I can be of use,’ said Loki. He smiled thinly at Barton. ‘And now for my plan…’

Jane turned back to her work. The Tesseract knew what she was doing, and it welcomed her. She flexed her fingers. Soon she would be able to build a portal. Soon she would see the universe.

Then Loki snatched her arm and forced her to face him. Barton had been dismissed, she saw, and was talking to some of the soldiers a distance away. 

‘Pay attention, Jane Foster,’ Loki said, face close to hers and voice lowered. ‘I will be going away. I need you to go on without me.’

‘Of course,’ said Jane. His grip on her arm hurt. She ignored it. ‘I'm building as fast as I can!’ 

‘Not just that,’ hissed Loki, again with the irritable tone. ‘We're not opening it here!’

Jane regarded him, unblinking. She was his, but she did not fully understand his priorities. ‘If you say so,’ she said evenly. ‘I can recommend somewhere the world is thin-’ 

‘No! Listen to me: I do not need your input!’ His grip tightened for a moment and Jane cried out without being able to stop herself. 

‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked evenly. The pain was temporary, and it was his to dish out. 

‘Better,’ he said, voice like silk once more. ‘Here is where you will go…’ 

Jane listened, and looked at his maps and routes, and when he was done she _still_ did not understand his priorities, but she knew he would have her silent. 

‘It will be done as you wish,’ she said, and everything felt better already. 

He took her face in his hand. A familiar gesture somehow made discordant, although she did not know why. ‘Do not fail me, Jane Foster.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ongoing and eternal thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for her beta work!

‘You know, twelve hours ago I was celebrating success with champagne,’ said Tony.

‘Strictly speaking, Sir, twelve hours ago you were under the harbour,’ pointed out Jarvis.

Tony sighed. Technically Jarvis was no more pedantic than some humans Tony knew, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. ‘My point is, I am now flying to South Africa to assist a World War Two vet in a probable fight with a Norse legend. Where did my day go so wrong?’

‘I couldn’t say, Sir,’ said Jarvis. ‘Would you like me to try Colonel Rhodes again?’

‘No point, I saw the news. He looks busy. Just leave him a voicemail telling him to hurry up. And let’s review again what we know about this Loki guy.’

‘Loki, the Norse God of Mischief-’

‘OK, firstly, let’s stop with the “god” thing. The file agrees he’s an alien, so the theological questions have been answered. Secondly, this is a hell of a thing to call “mischief”. He didn’t use mayo as cake frosting for a potluck. He stole a potential superweapon and told Fury he’s going to crush us. What do we actually know?’

‘Very well, Sir,’ said Jarvis. ‘Putting aside the legends and focussing on the SHIELD reports. He has exceptional strength and speed. His sceptre shoots energy blasts at long range. At short range it appears to brainwash individuals, and has compromised several SHIELD agents and a highly valued SHIELD asset. Director Fury’s report indicates he either avoided, stopped, or was unaffected by automatic gunfire. His previous interaction with Earth saw him destroy a small town using a now destroyed superweapon from his homeworld, which continues to suggest he does not place a high value on human life.’

‘Great,’ said Tony. ‘Do we think we’ve got enough to hit him with?’

‘Since we are rejecting the “God” theory, Sir, we are hopefully assuming he’s not immortal,’ said Jarvis. ‘With that in mind, I expect we can at least bruise him a little.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ agreed Tony. ‘We’ve got a good charge, right? The journey won’t affect that.’

‘Power levels as expected,’ agreed Jarvis, projecting the figures onto the display.

‘So what’s his game plan?’ said Tony, half to himself. ‘He took the Tesseract, right? And one of the scientists working on it?’

‘Dr Jane Foster,’ agreed Jarvis. ‘SHIELD has classified her as a high risk asset.’

‘Uh… high risk? That doesn’t sound good.’

‘She had a history of anti-government activity whilst at college, both as a student and a researcher,’ explained Jarvis. ‘Her intake evaluation to SHIELD indicated that she considered them an unfortunate necessity and she planned to ignore any attempts at censorship of her work. Her clearance was due to be refused until Director Fury personally stepped in. Since then her handlers have recommended three times that she be removed from her work, and each time Director Fury has overridden them.’

‘Huh, so Fury’s a fan?’

‘The exact notes indicate that he believed she would cause less trouble inside SHIELD than elsewhere.’

Tony sighed. ‘Great.’

‘The file SHIELD have supplied us indicates they believe she could have built a transdimensional portal with the Tesseract as far back as two months ago, but the materials she needed required approval which has yet to be granted.’

‘So, uh, have we checked she was _actually_ brainwashed?’

‘Director Fury witnessed it,’ said Jarvis.

‘Yeah, but that could be part of the plan,’ pointed out Tony. 

‘Her file indicates a connection to Thor of Asgard. She was in the town Loki destroyed in an attempt to kill his brother.’

‘So SHIELD are like… completely, utterly, one hundred percent confident that this Thor is on our team and that Foster is on his team? Because that’s two very big assumptions. This could easily be a long game.’

‘Based on the information in the file, SHIELD does not seem to be questioning her allegiance,’ said Jarvis.

‘Right,’ said Tony. That didn’t entirely put him at ease.

‘Dr Foster also appears in the Stark Industries database,’ said Jarvis.

Tony blinked. ‘Wait, what?’

‘Her PhD thesis was identified as part of the Stark Youth program as showing a lot of potential. According to the records, Sir, it even got as far as your desk.’

‘Did I… read it?’

‘I believe you were slightly… under the weather that day, Sir.’ Tony’s lip twitched. He wasn't sure when his AI had gotten polite about his old lifestyle, and he definitely hadn't programmed things that way. ‘The comments I have on file are “all right, whatever” spoken to Ms Potts. Taking this as assent, Dr Foster was contacted and invited for interview.’

‘Did she fail our security clearance too?’

‘No, Sir, she didn’t get that far. She replied to the original overture with a pamphlet from the Campaign for Stark Disarmament. One of the early uses of the “Merchant of Death” title, I believe.’

‘Oh.’ Tony considered this. ‘Well at this point in time I can’t really hold that against her.’

‘Indeed, Sir,’ said Jarvis. A beat. ‘We’re approaching Johannesburg. I’ve plotted the location of the SHIELD jet. Intel indicates that its pilot is Natasha Romanoff, and that Captain Rogers is already engaged in a fight with Loki. He has been very brazen in his attack, with no other supporters appearing nearby.’

‘Huh,’ said Tony. ‘Well we’ll think about that later. In the meantime, let’s get going with my playlist. Do you think Romanoff is looking forward to seeing me again?’

~*~

Turned out, Loki came pretty quietly, all things considered. Not quite the “God” in Jarvis’s files. Somewhere over Africa, flying north to where Fury had a helicarrier that could, apparently, contain Loki, he found himself trading barbs with _the_ Captain America. 

This was the man his dad had known. This was the man his dad had spent his whole life looking for. It didn’t feel real. Too bad for Howard the damn car crash had got to him first. He’d have been thrilled. Tony, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure what to feel. Cap was younger than him. By a lot. He could have been any one of the hundreds of soldiers Tony had met over his years selling weapons. Soldiers sent to war, who wanted a photo or an autograph from the guy who was helping send them. Except Cap didn’t want a photo or an autograph because he was a celebrity himself. A perfect soldier for the US government, who’d starred in movies and comic books all to convince the people that heroes existed.

Cap might be a soldier, but he was a soldier from a time long gone. He was a museum piece. Tony wasn’t quite sure what Fury was thinking, unfreezing a kid who didn’t know what a cellphone was and setting him on a god. Or not a god. _Damnit Jarvis._

Then, somewhere over southern Senegal, they flew into a storm.

~*~

In the interval between being bodily dragged from the back of the Midgardian flying craft and crash landing into the side of a grubby hill, Loki reflected that although his brother’s arrival wasn’t a _surprise_ , he did not have to enjoy it. While Thor’s arrogance and easy temper would certainly make some parts of Loki’s plan more likely to happen as anticipated, given that the humans hosted a monster built on rage, Loki had been relatively comfortable on the flying machine, under the wary eyes of his human captors. Being scraped across the landscape promised to be far less so.

‘Where is Jane?’ Thor bellowed at him.

Loki grinned. This was almost too easy. ‘So you’ve heard your dear mortal is kindly assisting me, then? She’s been so very helpful.’

Thor drew back an arm and Loki tensed, but the blow never landed. Instead, he was hauled to his feet. It took a lot of willpower to not fight back, but Loki forced himself to be patient. The time would come.

‘Stop this, Loki,’ demanded Thor. ‘Tell me where the Tesseract is. Come _home_.’

‘Home?’ forced out Loki incredulously. ‘It was never my home! I was stolen, changed, moulded into the man I am now, then discarded by your father - oh, and he has finally told you the truth of me, now, hasn’t he?’

‘You are my brother,’ shouted Thor, with such certainty Loki was furious.

‘I never was and never will be!’

‘We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?’

‘I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I was and should be king!’ Before Thor could retort, Loki managed to regain a modicum of control and laughed in his brother’s face. ‘And now lovely Jane is helping me. You should be thanking me: I’ve given her what she’s always dreamed of. Maybe she’ll be Queen of this world with me, when I’m done. She is mine now, after all.’

The rock shattered around his head, ringing his ears. 

Before that, he flew backwards through the air. 

Before that, Mjolnir crashed into his jaw.

From his new resting place, in a bed of cracked stones and rocks, Loki looked up at his brother and laughed, wiping blood from his mouth and resetting his jaw with a crack.

Thor bore down on him as thunder rumbled. 

And then he was gone.

A blur of red and gold had flashed through the air, barrelling into Thor and crashing them both into the trees some distance away. Loki spat blood again and pulled himself upwards. He was on a slight outcropping of rock in the hot and humid forest, giving him a vantage point over their spat. He watched them eagerly. He knew how to fight Thor, but not this Tony Stark, this _Iron Man_ if it came to it, for all the help Barton had been.

‘ _He's a genius_ ,’ Barton had said. ‘ _An engineer. He builds himself out of trouble. That suit he wears is his own work. No one else can replicate it._ ’

‘ _Then he’s just a man?_ ’ Loki had asked. He’d asked Barton to tell him the biggest threats he would face. A man in armour should certainly be nothing.

‘ _Yes, fundamentally. And as well as that he’s not stable. He can’t work with other people. Too much ego. Too many personality problems for SHIELD. But he can build anything he needs to. He built tech better than we’ve ever dreamed of in a cave, with barely any equipment. And he wants to save the world. Not even just as Iron Man, but he’s making clean energy a thing._ ’

‘ _Jane Foster says the Tesseract is for clean energy,_ ’ Loki had pointed out.

‘ _Not… exactly_ ,’ Barton had admitted.

And, well, hadn’t that fit nicely into Loki’s plans. 

Thor was holding back in the fight, of course, but he was already on the edge of his temper, so it seemed unlikely he’d keep control for long. Even from a distance Loki could see that the armoured suit didn’t stand up to much. Though lightning did nothing - and even seemed to help (which must have been quite a shock for Thor) - the metal of the suit itself was hardly strong enough to hold up to a fight with an Asgardian. In addition, the direct attacks made on Thor seemed to be easy enough to shrug off. Loki grinned and dismissed the Iron Man.

Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw movement. The Captain. Heading into the battle. Intriguing. By Barton’s account he was even weaker, less protected and less well armed than the Iron Man. His attempt to capture Loki earlier, before the Iron Man had arrived, had certainly been laughable. What hope did he have against Thor?

‘ _Super-human soldier created in an experiment_ ,’ Barton had said. ‘ _Strong and quick at healing; fantastic tactical mind; and an anti-authoritarian streak that nobody really expected. Strong concept of honour and what’s right, and a very black-and-white good-and-evil approach, it seems. But he’s only been around for a few weeks, so we’re still assessing. Reports say he’s struggling to adjust to this century so far. The world he knew is long gone._ ’

Seventy years asleep was a long time for Midgardians, it seemed. Loki supposed that was no surprise, given their lifespan, but he had not realised how quickly they’d developed in that time. One of his enemies being as unfamiliar with this world as he himself was could only be a good thing, though, so that knowledge had pleased him. 

Then Mjolnir came down on the shield and even from a distance Loki felt the _force_ and was blown backwards. When he righted himself, there was a circle of fallen trees surrounding the three fighters, and they appeared to have reached a stalemate. The shield, then, was worth a second glance, even if the man holding it was not.

Loki waited patiently to be recaptured, wondering if the so-called _genius_ and _fantastic tactical mind_ would wonder at why he had not tried to escape.

~*~

They put him in the cage intended for the Hulk.

‘ _Great big green monster,_ ’ Barton had said. ‘ _You piss him off, and out it comes. He can level buildings. Nothing can stop him._ ’

‘ _Can he take down the ship?_ ’

‘ _Without a doubt._ ’

It was almost tragic how easily the humans played into his hands. Barton had said they had nowhere better to store an Asgardian, so they did exactly as he’d predicted. Loki wasn’t as physically strong as his brother, but he didn’t doubt he could overpower everyone on Midgard without raising a sweat, and he made them nervous, so into the cage he went, to ensure he had no opportunity to crush them.

Except… perhaps this Hulk would prove the exception to Asgardian might. He would learn soon enough who was stronger when Thor battled the beast and destroyed the ship in the process. Whoever won, it did not matter. 

He concentrated on the gem in the sceptre and felt for rage and anger and grinned to himself as he waited. 

Unbidden, his thoughts went to Jane Foster and to Barton. Without them he was lost. How ironic. Barton he needed to escape. Jane Foster he needed for the final plan. And that rankled, however much he tried to prevent it. They followed his every thought - they and the countless other enemies of SHIELD he’d pulled together - but then and there he was waiting on them.

Barton he could trust exactly as far as he needed to. Barton knew he was a pawn, and knew Loki was his commander, just like Director Fury had once been. He had been fighting and would keep fighting every step of the way, never gaining an inch. Loki knew that in attacking this craft, he took a risk, but he had to trust that Barton was the best, and would do as needed. 

Jane… he did not trust Jane. No, that was not quite correct. He did not understand Jane Foster. More than that: he was disappointed in her. His brother’s partners were usually strong of body and of mind, impressive even to Loki. Jane Foster barely fought a single command. As long as he granted her a degree of personal space and left her to work, there was no hint of disobedience, even pushed down deep in her mind. She wanted everything he did, and it was so _easy_. Easy enough to irritate him. And at that thought, he had to acknowledge wryly that an Asgardian upbringing had left some mark upon him. No sensible person would desire a more difficult fight, but every single man of Asgard would. He should not be so foolish as to wish for her rebellion. 

He buried the thought. There was no fight in Jane Foster and that was good. His brother’s mind was clearly addled. Thor had been weakened and mortal and fallen for a woman who was the same, and now he would pay the price. 

Loki sighed and shook his head. It did not quite sit right with him, as an explanation. His brother had returned to Asgard changed. _Why?_

If only Jane Foster realised her weakness, Loki would have less to think on. But she regarded him not as a prince or a god, but as a _man_ , and no insult he landed nor bruise he left seemed to change that. And even when he commanded her attention, she stared unblinkingly through him, as if he was nothing. It had to be the sceptre slowing her reactions. Still, she knew he was her master, and knew her planet would fall to him, and that she was nothing, and still she _questioned_.

‘ _This plan of yours is going to kill a lot of people,_ ’ she’d said, when he’d explained her role. She had already returned to work and he’d been about to leave and then she’d said this, not even turning from the Tesseract.

‘ _That is the point,_ ’ he’d told her. ‘ _The more die, the more easily those who remain will bow to me._ ’

‘ _Huh,_ ’ she’d said. She still had not looked up. Loki had stared for a moment, his mind unable to think of a reply in the face of her sheer disinterest. ‘ _So there’s nobody you think is indispensable? Not even your brother?_ ’

At that he’d snapped, and wrenched her arm back, dragging her away from her precious cube, making her cry out and at last show some fear. He grabbed her throat and pushed her backwards against the wall and the tears that sprung in her eyes were a relief to see. ‘ _Listen to me, you stupid whore, I do not care who dies. In fact, I want my brother dead. If you see him, you kill him yourself! You kill all of those stupid powered so-called heroes or you die doing so! Do you understand me?_ ’ She had nodded, mercifully silent. ‘ _This is my plan, and you will cease trying to dictate it to me. One more question and I’ll break your neck, understood?_ ’

She had nodded again, and he’d released her. As she’d righted herself, she’d clutched her arm and winced. ‘ _I think you dislocated my shoulder. Could you pop it back in, please? I need a full range of motion for my work._ ’

That was the sceptre, numbing her fear, making her his slave, but despite all that it was with incredulity that he pushed her arm back in place. He could order her to call him “Sir”, like Barton did, but it would change nothing. She would still look through him with that same disinterest, still treat him like a partner instead of a king.

Then she had turned back to the Tesseract and he was dismissed.

No, he did not fully understand Jane Foster, and for that reason it was hard to push her from his mind. 

Perhaps, he could not help think to himself, it would have been better to kill her and obtain another scientist. For all that he said to his brother, he would end her quickly once this world was his. Now, though, trapped on the SHIELD ship, he was dependent upon her to finish building his doorway and get the Tesseract and what equipment she needed to the city of New York. Dependent upon her while he waited for whatever torture was due to him to make him give up his plan.

What he had not quite expected was the woman Romanoff. 

‘ _She’s the best. You can’t hide anything from her,_ ’ had been Barton’s assessment. ‘ _Don’t underestimate her._ ’

‘ _You’re not saying everything. Tell me._ ’ 

‘ _I love her._ ’

‘ _And she, you?_ ’

Barton had shrugged. Loki had grinned.

Now he faced her. She’d killed so many people, he’d been told, but at the end of it all she was just a human. She fought with knives that would not penetrate his skin; electrical gadgets that would barely tickle compared to Thor’s lightning; and a speed that he would call pedestrian. She fought too with words, however, and he should not forget that. He was used to using his wits against oafs like his brother, not those trained in lying. Asgard was awful at espionage, so he had little practice against true spies.

When she started to cry at his barbs, he was disappointed. The humans had nothing. Barton was just deluded in his affection.

Then, ‘Thank you for your cooperation,’ she said. And he was no longer disappointed in her, as he cursed both her and himself. Of them all, she was the only one who might be worth anything. 

It was a good thing he had asked Barton to kill her, after all.

~*~

Then the ship started to fall apart, exactly as he’d planned, and he _laughed_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ongoing thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for the beta read!

It had not exactly been a day containing his proudest moments, Tony reflected as he flew away from the Helicarrier and back to the city. Getting into a spat with a man both old enough to be his dad and young enough to be his son over almost nothing. Getting battered about by a glaringly inefficient helicarrier engine. Coulson. Poor guy. Given his life, and for what? For SHIELD? For the _Avengers_? Either seemed like a ludicrous, stupid waste.

Except now it was down to them to prove it wasn’t.

Tony’d had to silence the suits internal alarms for the flight to New York. He _knew_ the thing was on the point of falling apart. He didn’t need a reminder blaring in his ears and right in front of his eyes. He also knew he had to walk into his own home and get the Mark VII from under the nose of a megalomaniac alien. Unless by some miracle they’d beat Loki and Foster there, but given that so far Loki had been three steps ahead of them all along, he doubted it.

He was kinda missing the likes of Justin Hammer or Stane. _Big man in a suit of armour._ He told himself that wasn’t all he was but the megalomaniacs he fought didn’t usually have an alien army. So far they’d been mostly over-weaponed douchebags. Loki was not that. But now Tony had a _team_ apparently. So there was that.

‘You guys are lagging,’ he said over the comms, because despite the dying suit, he’d already pulled well ahead of them.

‘Shut up, Stark,’ said Romanoff, but he thought there wasn’t the typical waspish irritation in her voice. That probably made them friends, so that was nice.

‘Any sign of Thor on your radar?’ he asked. He was pretty confident by now that this wasn’t an Asgardian plot, if only because sending your own brother hurtling thousands of feet in a cage was a pretty hardcore bluff. Besides, Romanoff had met Thor now, and she thought he was OK.

‘Nope, no sign,’ she said. ‘We can’t track him. He’s too small and organic.’

‘Did he definitely survive?’ asked Barton. There was hesitation in his voice. No wonder. He’d downed the ship, after all. Downed the ship and released Loki. But Fury trusted him and so did Romanoff, so Tony guessed that meant the brainwashing was real. Even if Barton didn’t have any useful intel about the next stage of the plan. He was still willing to fight, and they needed everyone they could get.

‘We can’t be a hundred percent sure,’ admitted Tony. It had been a hell of a fall.

‘I think he did,’ said Rogers. 

‘Yeah, me too,’ Tony admitted. And he did. It wasn’t just a hope and a prayer. Thor had held off the Hulk. It was impossible not to be impressed with that one.

Thinking of the Hulk, he wondered when Bruce would be back, but he put off asking if there was any word for now. His tower was in his sights, and on top was something that wasn’t meant to be there. 

It was a relief to be right, sort of. If they hadn’t been, he didn’t know what they’d have done. Waited, perhaps. Gone back to their search. Had a nice drink from his bar. Instead there was a very human looking woman still hard at work on a ten foot tall device, which a zoomed in view told him contained the Tesseract and the Vibranium that had been snatched out under their noses in Johannesburg. There was no sign of Loki, which raised his hackles. But then, would Loki really be out, hard-at-work, in the cold brightness of the day, when he could be stealing Tony’s whiskey in the penthouse? Tony knew what he’d bet on.

He slowed as he approached. Foster’s device was already active. The Tesseract glowed blue in the centre. Stupid SHIELD. The bastards should have destroyed it. Around the Tesseract, his suit could sense a cushion of energy. Parts of the device spun, faster and faster every moment, an audible whomp-whomp-whomp even with the wind.

‘Kill the power, Jarvis.’

‘I already have, Sir. It is self-sustaining.’

He turned on his speaker system as soon as he flew closer. ‘Dr Fos-’

She half turned, then pulled a lever and _slammed_ her hand on a button. 

Blue lightning flared outwards from the Tesseract. Tony yelped and ducked and dived. Around him the sky burned. A brief glimpse below showed him people starting to stop on the streets and his silently cursed their existence and tried to mentally order them to run. They needed to get out. He couldn’t be everywhere. 

As he righted himself he was faced with the lightning. Tendrils of blue-white light arced out from the Tesseract looking for all the world like a giant plasma globe. Except plasma globes were covered in glass and didn’t end in points of blackness that became rips in the sky itself. The rips began to grow, two dimensional daubs of dark paint on a three dimensional landscape, lacerations in reality itself. Tony swallowed a rising lump in his throat. The portals didn’t look _real_ , but he could see stars. There were at least a dozen of them, and they were still growing. And far above his head, joined to the tower by four bolts of blue lightning, was a giant rip in the sky, several blocks long and getting wider by the second. Through that he thought he could see metal and movement and light.

The sound of a gunshot brought him back to Earth. Jane Foster was holding a military grade pistol and pointing it at him.

‘What the hell?’ he demanded. 

‘I’m under orders to kill you,’ she told him, almost politely.

‘That went twenty feet wide,’ he pointed out.

‘I’ve never fired a gun before, OK!’ she said. ‘I’m doing my best!’ She fired again. It was probably even further out.

Tony sighed. ‘I suppose this means there’s no hope of asking you to shut the portals down?’

‘It’s too late! They can’t be stopped now!’ She looked a bit manic and she raised the gun again.

‘You might as well save your bullets,’ Tony pointed out. ‘They’ll never get through the suit even if you hit me.’

Foster looked at the gun for a moment. ‘Right,’ she said. She put it down. She reached for the device. 

‘Wait, don’t-!’ 

Blue lightning surrounded him. The fabric of reality stretched and strained and cracked around him and he yelled out. He could _hear_ the universe tearing. 

Then blackness enveloped him. Space. He was in space. There were stars. Oh god there were stars. There were aliens. Beasts leering at him from chariots. Huge ships. Huge _monsters_. Air rushed from him. He couldn’t breathe. 

‘Sir, this suit is not airtight in its present state, you need to return-’

‘Where?’ he rasped out, heart in his throat. 

‘Behind you, Sir.’ Jarvis’s voice was calming somehow.

Tony blasted himself backwards and suddenly his eyes burned with the brightness of New York in the day. Below him, Jane Foster looked up and regarded him. 

‘He’s ordered me to keep trying until I kill you,’ she said. 

_She sure is helpful_ , Tony reflected sourly.

‘Sir, this suit will not survive another-’

Tony dived.

There, of course, was Loki. Somehow he seemed about nine hundred times less terrifying than Jane Foster’s portals at that moment.

‘Get the suit off, Jarvis, and have the mark VII ready,’ he said.

‘As you wish, Sir,’ said Jarvis.

And as he walked and the suit was pulled from him, the first of the aliens - the Chitauri - began to appear from the portals. _No pressure, then,_ he thought to himself. Threaten the near-invincible alien to bluff his way into a prototype suit and then fight an alien army. Just another day in the life.

Loki was grinning at him as he walked towards him, a hunter stalking his prey. 

Tony went to the bar.

~*~

For a moment, Thor could not help but stare down at Mjolnir, unable to bring himself to summon it. After all that had happened: falling for his brother’s tricks, fighting those who would be his allies, mocking those of the very realm which had saved him… It seemed impossible that the hammer would still come at his behest.

If it did not, he knew his course: he must get to the city and fight on without it. Midgard needed him. Jane needed him. Mjolnir’s assessment changed that not.

He steeled himself. He opened his hand.

The hammer flew.

And then, so did he, relief coursing through his body as he did. 

Thor had seen the small craft and the Iron Man leave the creaking behemoth from his position on the ground. The larger ship now seemed to have stabilised, so he had followed the smaller one, at first slow and low behind, unsure of his position. Then he had seen the city - huge and tall and shining, and like nothing he’d ever imagined Midgard might have - and from one of the tallest buildings of the lot he’d seen the Tesseract energy. He sped up, pulling ahead of the flying craft, although he knew the Iron Man had beaten him by some minutes.

The tower read ‘Stark’, so it must belong to the man thus named. Loki’s idea of a joke, perhaps. There were already more than a dozen ink blots in the sky, jagged edges tearing and the doorways growing. As he watched, a shard of blue light flew outwards, and a new rip in the sky appeared at the end of it and began to grow. Already the Chitauri warriors flew out of the other doors, and out of the largest rip across the entirety of the sky. He could see the Iron Man armour battling them alone, awaiting his allies. Thor had to leave them to the others, though. He had to stop his brother. He had to stop-

‘Jane!’ 

As he rose above the edge of the tower he could see her, working. These portals were her doing. He’d known that, just as he’d known he’d see her, ever since Heimdall had seen her taken with the Tesseract. Loki had allowed that much, before disguising them from search, meaning Thor had not been able to find her. His heart caught in his throat at the sight of her. Jane Foster. It had been a long year. She had worked to find him and now this was her reward. Loki’s cruellest trick yet. She’d changed but a little: practical yet untidy clothes, long brown hair, beautiful brown eyes he could get lost in, but-

‘Don’t!’ she yelled. Her hand was on a small weapon. Her eyes were too wide and panicked. ‘Loki- Loki ordered me to kill you. I have to- I have to-’ 

‘Jane, listen to me, this is not you, you must try to-’ The weapon let out a loud bang that did nothing but mildly startle him. He checked his armour and found no trace. ‘Jane-’ When he looked back there were tears in her eyes that felt like a stab to the heart. ‘I will not hurt you. I will go. Please, fight this.’

With that, he dropped away and out of her sight, hearing a shout of relief from her that only further broke his heart. 

Loki greeted him with a sneer. _His brother_ once more looked to him as an enemy.

‘Loki! Stop this madness!’ he shouted, though by now it seemed futile. His heart thumped in his ears. Loki had done this. He had taken Jane and twisted her work and brought this army to her world, and for what? For petty revenge against imagined injustices. For lies told by a father who was not even there.

‘It’s too late now,’ said Loki, with near enough to glee in his voice. ‘The bridge is open. The Chitauri fly to my orders. There will be war!’

‘So be it,’ managed Thor, hot fury coursing through him as he rushed for his one-time brother.

The fight was brutal, quick, and short-lived. Thor was stronger than his brother usually, but Loki was spurred on by a strength born of anger and hate and he crashed the sceptre onto Thor, onto Mjolnir, onto anything he could. He jabbed and shouted with furious joy at each blow he landed. Thor felt no such joy. He felt little hate either. His heart was too heavy. He blocked the thrusts of the sceptre and the kicks from his brother and levelled Mjolnir as best he could.

Then an almighty roar distracted him and Loki sent him flying backwards. Even as he fell, he stared upwards. Through the largest of the rips in the sky came a _leviathan_ : bigger than many of the buildings of Midgard, armed, crawling with soldiers. And Thor knew it was but the first of many.

Loki appeared above him and stabbed _down_ with a victorious shout. Thor rolled frantically, then yelled in pain as the sceptre tore into his shoulder. He was reaching for Mjolnir to fight back and-

He went flying off the balcony after a kick from his brother. Mjolnir swerved into his outstretched hand, and he was no longer falling. He turned back to Loki, who was standing triumphant, although Thor felt there was little achievement to be had in kicking a man who could fly from a tall structure. Loki pointed the sceptre at him once more, and Thor ducked the burst of energy and readied his attack, and-

The leviathan roared again. Thor looked, to see his allies attacking it, and to see the beast sweep their small craft out of the air, sending it hurtling and spinning downwards. Only Iron Man remained. 

On the balcony of the tower, Loki looked up at him and laughed.

Thor made a decision, turned and flew, up and up and away, his brother’s laugh still in his ears as he went. The iron suit might be strong by Midgardian standards, but he could not win against a beast such as this.

‘Took you long enough, buddy,’ said Stark. 

‘Your weapons will not penetrate,’ called Thor. ‘The armour is too thick.’

‘I know, but I’m pissing it off a bit. Keeping it up, away from the city.’ He flew past and as he did, threw something tiny at Thor, who had to dive to catch it. ‘In your ear!’ he yelled.

‘What?’

‘Put it in your ear!’ 

The device was small and soft, and Thor saw how it would fit. He pushed it in one ear and it sat, odd, but not too uncomfortable. As he dived for the back of the leviathan, he realised what it was.

‘Evac is going to slow down here,’ came the voice of Captain Rogers. ‘Too many Chitauri. We’re getting a perimeter set up.’

‘Oh shit, there’s-’ That voice was a man’s that he did not recognise, but he thought perhaps it must be the Barton who had been spoken of.

‘We saw,’ said Stark, as another leviathan began to make its way out of the tear. 

‘I have it,’ said Thor, flying away.

‘Banner here yet?’ asked Stark.

‘What?’

‘Never mind. Tell me when he shows.’

‘I think I could kill them, but they will plummet,’ said Thor, of the beasts.

‘Right, street level then,’ agreed Stark. ‘Away from the city.’

‘Go slowly,’ said Thor. ‘I shall deal with this one first, then come for yours.’

‘Great,’ said Stark. ‘Slowly. Easy peasy.’ There was sarcasm in his voice that Thor ignored. 

He instead focused his attention on his beast. It was easily annoyed by even small sparks of lightning, and followed him out, over the water and down. Away from the people, he thought with relief. Then, at last, he judged it to be safely low enough to not cause too large a wave, and he reached into himself for the anger and the fear and the _lightning_ and out it poured. The beast screamed. The Chitauri on its back were frozen in place by the burning electricity. Thor bared his teeth and then roared back at it. The lightning tore through his body and sang in his veins and the voice of the beast began to fade.

With one last, desperate effort it snatched at him with its jaws, snarling in pain. He batted its huge mouth away with Mjolnir with hardly a swing, and it dropped, falling down the remaining fifty feet, until it hit the water with an almighty crash. Monstrous waves rushed outward, but not so monstrous that they would drown the city. Thor smiled grimly. A victory well earned, he thought, but the battle was far from over. 

Then he was aware of the silence once more. He reached into his ear and pulled out the device Stark had given him - melted and reformed into a pink and black puddle. He was used to more durable tools, and he scoffed and turned back to the city.

_Ah. The second beast._

He swung Mjolnir and flew, hoping in his heart he had not promised Stark wrong. To bring down that much lightning once was one thing, to do it again, and again, and again… He would have to do what he could.

As he arrived, though, there was Banner, diffident and in ill-fitting clothes. Thor grinned broadly at the man as he transformed before their eyes, growing and bulging outwards, fabric tearing around him and the very ground itself crumpling beneath his weight. He was something else entirely, something incredible. He turned to face Stark’s leviathan with nothing more than a fist. The beast crumpled and bent and twisted and Thor nearly laughed. Impossible that someone so unassuming should have the strength of a Beserker and more besides. 

Then, for just a moment, they were united on the ground. They must all be feeling as he was, he could not help but think: that they stood a chance.

Then the sky ripped open further, and from the largest of the tears, three more of the wretched beasts began to fly.

‘Uh, guys,’ said Natasha Romanoff.

‘Call it, Cap,’ said Stark.

Thor was sent up, to the largest rip in the sky, to bottleneck it. A good plan. It was not often he was not leading men, these days, but the Captain had been proving himself to be worthy of command, so Thor was content to follow orders. He found a sufficiently tall building and called upon his remaining strength and looked up, raising Mjolnir and sending out his lightning. It flowed upwards and around him, licking his skin and bending to his will as it ran through Chitauri warriors and up to the main doorway. The warriors hit began to fall.

At this height, he could see the black doorways, and count them. There were more than there had been, and they were growing. He could _hear_ it, and feel the energy from the Tesseract spewing out into the world. They were growing and the energy was building and the magic itself weaving into the very sky, clutching to the strands of reality. It vibrated through him: ancient and powerful and too different to his own for him to begin to understand or even hope to bend to his will. Even the building beneath his feet seemed to shake under the pressure upon the realm.

For the first moment, it began to occur to him that they needed to focus on the doorways. The invaders seemed like a greater threat, and of course the holes in the world facilitated them. But the doors themselves were weakening the world.

_What had his brother done?_

Even as he sent his lightning up to the new enemies pouring through, Thor felt the chill in his heart. There were too many. There were more and more doors and all of them were growing, and still came the Chitauri and their beasts and their war. His small group of allies could never be enough, and-

He gasped in pain as a spear rammed through his side, nearly making him fall, forcing him to bend double at the pressure as a dozen of their warriors swarmed him, pulling and kicking and stabbing.

Below the streets were filled. The Midgardians ran, screamed, fought back where they could, and often fell as they did, their bodies bright blots on the grey ground. Chitauri shot and tore the world to shreds. Above and around the screams of the leviathan and the crumbling buildings filled his ears. Under his skin, reality stretched and cracked.

For a moment, Thor felt despair. They were no army. They would tire and they would fall. Even him, eventually. Mjolnir was heavy in his hands.

Then one of the Chitauri slashed at his ear with a blade, and the sudden sharpness brought him back to himself. He snarled and _threw_ and the onslaught of soldiers went flying. Then he turned to where they’d surprised him to see a new, smaller doorway just opened behind him. More Chitauri warriors were already flying through, heading for him, ready to fight. Grunting, he pulled out the spear from his body and ran it through the next arrival. Then he took hold of that warrior and used it as a bat to hit five others from their chariots. 

In the corner of his eye, there was movement, and he whirled around on his perch, and-

‘ _SIF_?’

She was on a winged chariot, and her blade sung as she sent it through a crowd that had been aiming their weapons at Thor. In the brief quiet that followed their deaths, she looked up at him and raised her eyebrows.

‘You’re welcome,’ she told him.

‘How did you-?’ She sent her sword flying past his left ear, narrowly missing his hair, stabbing another enemy. As she dived to reclaim the sword, Thor turned and resumed the fight, as he did catching more glimpses of gold out of the corner of his eye. The Chitauri fell under his hands and under Sif’s and soon they all but abandoned the small, new portal.

‘Heimdall saw a way to make a bridge to… to that.’ She pointed at Jane’s device, still spiking blue lightning around. ‘The Allfather gave his own power to help. Only for a moment, but here we are.’

Thor looked around for the first time. He saw Fandral and Hogun too, below him, meaning surely Volstagg must be there. His friends’ help was more than he’d dared dream and he felt himself smile. As they flew and dived for the Chitauri and the Leviathans, he laughed, amazed, feeling like there was a chance.

Sif flew up to him once more. ‘My brother says the way might open again. The King regroups his strength. The Queen assembles the forces. Asgard will come to Midgard’s defence once more.’

Thor opened his mouth to reply with his delight but was interrupted by Fandral, shouting from below. ‘Get down here and fight!’ demanded his friend.

Sif grinned. ‘Bet I can kill more than you,’ she said, and then dived before he could point out the wager was unfair, for he had a head start.

For a moment, all was well, even though the air around him seemed to scream at the pressure and the magic. Above him, a leviathan screamed and he saw Hogun fly around it, mace at the ready. He laughed as shot lightning upwards. They only had to hold off the battle for a little longer, he was certain. The armies of Asgard would end it, with him as their commander and his friends - old and new - at his side. Midgard would be avenged.

Then he looked over to Stark’s tower. _Loki_. Loki who had seen his new enemies arrive and who must surely be suffused with fury. 

Loki, who was making his way up the outside of Stark’s tower, to where Jane awaited him with open arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ongoing thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for the beta reading!

Without pausing to think, Thor dived, air rushing past his ears and panic flooding his veins.

He landed behind his brother, raised Mjolnir, and-

BANG. The mortal gun. He had forgotten. 

‘ _OW_ ,’ yelled Loki, clutching his side. 

‘Oh, shit, sorry!’ said Jane. ‘You told me to kill your brother and he’s right there and I was trying to shoot him but you’re in the way and I’m a terrible shot anyway and-’ She raised the gun and shot him again. This one missed both Thor and Loki. Despite that, Thor felt a grin spreading across his face. Her hand was not shaking any more. She knew at whom she shot. 

Jane took aim for a third time, peering down the barrel of her weapon. She was most definitely aiming for Thor. She just happened to be aiming for the part of Thor that Loki was in the way of.

Thor loved her. More than anything in the universe.

He supposed he had for a while, but it was still something of a shock to have the revelation while she pointed a weapon at him.

‘STOP… trying to kill my brother,’ said Loki, disgust clear on his face. Thor laughed, unable to stop himself. Loki shot him a look of pure venom. ‘Come any closer and I run her through with the sceptre.’ At that, Thor’s laughter died in his throat. He clenched his hands. This was no game. For a moment he had felt victory, but neither Jane nor this world were yet safe. Loki was too close to Jane for Thor to approach. He might fail. He could not risk it.

‘If you say so,’ said Jane, unfazed. She put down the gun. ‘Did you want something? It’s a hell of a job keeping your portals stable.’

Loki’s venom transferred instantly to Jane, although he kept an eye on Thor as he stalked towards her. Thor stood, frozen in place, waiting. He could not leave. Not while Loki was here with Jane. Nor could he do anything but wait until Loki was sufficiently distracted.

‘Why,’ demanded Loki, voice low and dangerous, ‘are there Asgardians here?’

‘Oh, them,’ said Jane. She waved a hand in dismissal. Her voice - no, her entire posture - was flat and matter-of-fact. Thor guessed she was still Loki’s to command and that thought made his heart clench. ‘You wanted a portal that alien invaders could reach across the universe and connect to. It’s hardly my fault a second set of alien invaders also did that.’

For a moment, Loki was apoplectic, unspeaking, merely gesturing in helpless rage. Thor was _delighted_. He loved her. She was wonderful. She had saved them. He had told her of Heimdall and the Bifrost and she had saved them all.

‘The bridge to Asgard is broken,’ Loki managed to spit out at last. ‘And your doorway was open for mere moments. These will be the last of them.’

‘It’s not _my_ doorway,’ said Jane. ‘I was making a bunch of doors for the Chitauri. For you. It’s probably Heimdall’s doorway that sent them here. That’s his name, right? The bridge-keeper? And it’s closed for now, but I don’t know for how long. How good is he? As our connection to the Chitauri grows and stabilises, so will any other doors that can be opened. If he’s good, the Asgardians will be able to send more through.’ Loki made a furious, almost animal sound. Jane regarded him with indifference. ‘You wanted war and chaos and lives lost. How is this a bad thing?’

Thor didn’t even attempt to wipe the smile from his face when his brother looked over to him.

Then Loki rounded on Jane once more, pointing the sceptre at her, scant inches from her face. His entire body shook with anger as she stared him down, unmoving even in the face of the terrible threat. ‘All right. You will stop the expansion. Ensure you close the doors-’

Mjolnir hit him square in the face and sent him flying backwards with a shout, until he toppled over the edge of the tower. 

Thor let out a breath, feeling his entire body almost shake at the temporary reprieve. Jane was safe, for now.

‘It sounds like Loki wants the doors closed,’ he observed to Jane, trying to keep his voice low. He had not broken Loki’s control, after all, and he could not guess what further instructions might have been given, or what Jane would wish to do. He hoped that she would take his brother at his word. 

There were many emotions warring on Jane’s face. He waited. Every bone in him itched to run to her, to take her in his arms and hold her. But she was not yet free of Loki’s grip, and when her face settled it was wary, standing between him and the Tesseract as if on guard. The way she watched him near broke his heart. This was not Jane, not how he had known her.

‘You know it’s not quite as simple as following orders to the letter, right?’ she said at last. ‘I want what he wants. I want the Earth to bow to his rule. You’re the enemy. You’re trying to stop me. You just hurt him. I should stop you.’

‘Mmm,’ he agreed, approaching her cautiously. She let him. Her eyes were distant, elsewhere. ‘This is not entirely how I pictured our reunion.’

‘I- I can’t really remember,’ she said. Suddenly fear flashed in her eyes - this was the real Jane, he thought, and it gave him hope no matter how much he hated to see her in pain. ‘I- everything from _before_ doesn’t seem to matter.’ She screwed her eyes shut. When she opened them, they were once again distant. ‘I need to- I need to figure this out. I need to stop the Asgardians from coming through and ruining everything. But I also need to keep the portals open. How can I-? I don’t know-’

Thor cupped her face in his hands, making her look up at him. ‘Can you stop one without the other?’ Her fists were clenched, but for a moment he could have sworn she leaned into his touch. Then instantly it passed and she was again wary, hunted. 

‘I- I don’t think so,’ she said, watching him with such a caution that in that second, he wished for nothing more than to run away from the battle and give into his sorrows. But he could not consider these her actions, and he would give his brother that satisfaction. Jane’s eyes briefly flickered to the gun, but she did not move. Either she had won her internal battle, or she had realised she would not be able to harm him with it. He hoped for the former, but even that did little to lighten his heart. 

He forced himself to stay calm, to breathe evenly, to smooth his voice and rid it of the distress he knew threatened to break free in his throat. ‘Hold that thought, Jane. Fix that thought in your mind. To stop my people coming to Midgard, you must stop the Chitauri. There is no other way.’

‘There aren’t… many of your people,’ said Jane. ‘I could just… leave it for a bit.’ Her eyes were sliding sideways. He was losing her.

‘There will be,’ he insisted forcefully, trying to make her hear the threat from his voice alone and hating himself as her eyes widened with fear. She had to see the truth: this would destroy Loki’s plan. ‘Heimdall is good. Heimdall is better than you can imagine, and one day I shall tell you all the wonderful things he has done. He will open more doorways, more bridges, and more of my people will come through. Lady Sif tells me that my mother is assembling our armies. They will protect Earth and defeat my brother. We could stop the Chitauri a hundred times over. Unless…’

‘Unless I stop them. Unless I shut the portals!’ Under his touch, he felt her seem to sag with relief, and he had to hold himself strong to stop himself from doing the same. 

‘Exactly,’ he agreed.

Jane stiffened once more, and then pushed his hands from her with narrowed eyes. ‘You’re the enemy,’ she said.

‘Loki’s enemy, but not yours,’ he said, swallowing the lump in his throat. ‘Never yours, Jane.’ She opened her mouth, then shut it, then repeated the movement. Her face was once more at war. He pressed ahead with his advantage in her state of confused battle. ‘And I am a terrible liar. Surely even my brother would confirm that. Close the portals. Loki and the Chitauri will regroup and attack again another day, and you may help them, if you wish.’

‘Right,’ said Jane slowly. She sucked in a deep breath. ‘Close the portals. That is definitely helping Loki. That is what he would want.’

Ironically, Thor did not think she was wrong. He certainly had not been lying when he spoke. If the doorways remained open and the armies of Asgard arrived, they would stop the Chitauri. Many lives would be lost - his people’s and those of the Midgardians of this city - but victory would be theirs eventually. Loki would certainly not wish to face the warriors of Asgard led by his father.

Jane was already back at her work, but then she turned around. ‘When these portals shut, they’ll suck people back through if they’ve ever travelled through one.’

‘Oh.’ Thor felt a lurch of disappointment. He thought that meant him. His arrival had not been through one of Jane’s doors, but he had travelled through something very similar to arrive. He had wanted to stay - just for a day or two, to-

‘They’ll suck them back and then crush them in a singularity.’

‘ _Oh._ ’ He considered. ‘Keep fighting, Jane. Do not think of me, or my brother, or my friends. We will be fine. I’ll find a way.’ She looked indifferent at everything except Loki’s fate and Thor once more had to fight to keep his voice even. ‘I’ll go and make sure Loki is safe. He is still my brother. I would have him survive this.’ 

It was a shock to realise that this was the most he had had to lie to her, but however Jane was fighting this menace in her mind, she seemed to decide to accept his words.

Reluctant to leave her, but seeing the fight still ongoing - however much the Asgardian reinforcements had helped - Thor dropped down to where Loki had fallen. Unfortunately it had not been the entire length of the building: instead he must have landed on Stark’s balcony. Thor could find no sign of him, though. No sign of him, that was, until he went indoors and found his brother crushed into the floor, whimpering. Thor regarded him, and the other Loki-sized patches of crushed floor.

‘The Hulk?’ he guessed. His brother responded with another whimper. Thor leaned down to pat him on the shoulder, making Loki wince. ‘Make sure you have something to hold onto when the portals start to close, brother, or you’ll be sucked into them and crushed,’ he said. Then he left. He briefly debated leaving Mjolnir pinning Loki down, but thought he was needed more in the fight.

Still, to leave Jane alone and so close to his brother did not sit entirely right, so he flew down to find her help, batting away Chitauri on all sides as he did.

Steven and Natasha were still fighting on the streets, weary and bruised but undefeated. He hit his way through half a dozen Chitauri and landed with a smile.

‘Uh, who are the shiny new soldiers?’ asked Steven.

‘Friends,’ Thor reassured him. ‘Jane has been fighting Loki’s control.’ He smiled despite everything. Remembering this, his heart threatened to burst from his chest at his pride, but it was not the time. ‘I can be more use against the leviathan and the Chitauri than at her side. Can one of you get up there to help her? And to protect her. Loki is injured, but the Chitauri might still attack.’

Natasha shrugged. ‘I’ll do it. I can do tech help too if she needs. Is her mind free yet?’

‘Ah… no,’ said Thor. ‘Loki ordered her to stop the portals, so…’

‘So you didn’t want to smack her round the head. Fair enough,’ said Natasha. 

Thor blanched. He had not realised how primitive Midgardian healing techniques were. ‘No I did not,’ he said shortly. ‘Is that what you plan to do?’ 

Natasha shrugged. ‘We'll see,’ she said. It was not comforting. Thor forced himself to let out a careful breath. He had to trust his allies. He could not help Jane by hovering beside her. 

‘Need a lift?’ he offered. 

‘Nah, just a boost,’ she said. ‘Get back to fighting. Cap?’

‘Uh, are you sure?’

Natasha gave another shrug. ‘Sure. It’ll be fun.’

~*~

A wet, cold, shock brought Jane back to wakefulness. A slap - hard, precise - followed, before she opened her eyes to see a woman in red hair and a black skin-tight suit. One of the superheroes no doubt. There was something vaguely familiar about her. She was knelt beside Jane, who had been propped up against something.

‘You _hit_ me!’ Jane tried to say. What came out was a mixture of words and almost a scream.

‘You pointed a gun at me first,’ said the woman. Her voice was not without some compassion. ‘Had to knock you out to give you back your brain. I’m Natasha. We need to close these portals. What can I do?’

Jane’s stomach dropped. The world beyond Natasha suddenly sharpened. New York. Aliens attacking. 

Portals. 

Her portals. 

Loki’s portals. 

_Her_ portals. 

There were aliens. Thor. Monsters attacking. Monsters in her head. She had… done this. Heat and cold flooded her. She was sick. She was going to be sick. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t… 

The world was tearing apart.

‘Foster.’ Her view was blocked. Natasha. Hands on her face. They were Natasha’s. Her own hands grasped at Natasha’s arms. Her nails scratched thick black fabric. ‘Breathe with me. In… two… three… four… five. And out… two… three… four… five...’ Her head bumped Natasha’s and sent a jolt of pain through her. Bruise. Unconscious. Right. Herself again. Her own brain. 

Not Loki’s.

‘He- he-?’ She couldn’t get anything else out.

‘Loki? Injured and keeping quiet. Thor? Fighting and fine. He asked me to come to you. Selvig? We moved him and Darcy Lewis to safety when you were taken. I don’t know any other significant men in your life. Keep breathing, Foster. We need you with us.’

‘I need to close the portals,’ said Jane. She spat out the words, her voice surprising her. How Loki had _dared_. Her head burned. She could still feel the Tesseract. She pressed down on Natasha’s arms as she pushed herself upwards.

‘Careful!’

Jane ignored her and staggered towards the Tesseract, in its beautiful, perfect machine. The sky was ripped asunder above her head. Loki had wanted that. He had dreamed of the end of her world and he had taken her work for it, tortured it, made it into something it wasn’t. Anger ripped through her. She would stop him. She would stop him if it killed her. The Tesseract had wanted this too, of course. So had she. So much. With all her heart. Even before Loki, even before the Tesseract had shown her how.

But not like this. 

She could breathe, for now. She had to stop it. She had to stop _him_.

‘What can I do?’ asked Natasha again.

‘I need the sceptre. Loki’s sceptre,’ she demanded, voice rising, fury spilling out at Natasha for no good reason. ‘They’re two of a kind. They fit together. Only-’

‘Only what?’ said Natasha sharply. She’d already turned to the edge of the roof, and now she looked back.

‘It’s not enough.’ Jane looked back at the Tesseract. ‘They’ll cancel out. They’ve got the same amount of magic. I need more power. Or else… or else… the rips will close, but they’ll suck through anyone who’s been through one. The Asgardians will get crushed. So will Thor. So will… Tony Stark, I think. I sent him through. Oh god I sent him through.’ She heaved in a panicked breath, anger dissipating to fear. She’d killed him. She’d killed him and-

‘Foster!’ Natasha was in front of her again.

Jane stared wildly. ‘Thor said do it anyway, but I- I don’t know-’

Natasha touched her ear. ‘Shit,’ she said.

‘What?’ 

‘Stark says there’s a nuke coming in. He’s going to intercept. We need to get this ready to close. I’ll get the sceptre. Jane, you have to stop this.’

‘There’s a goddamn nuke?!’ Jane managed. But Natasha was already running away.

She turned back to her work and tried not to think. She needed to power it down. Thor had said to do it. He’d said he would find a way. She had to believe- Time seemed to stop as she worked. Seconds stretched to hours. The Tesseract _fought_ her, in its own way, but now she was against it, she could see the way out. It would bend to her will, for a change. She just needed the power to breach the barrier and-

The sceptre flew through the air like a javelin, landing feet from her with a clang. 

‘Oh,’ she said. She picked it up. She could stop it. ‘I can- stop-’ Her hand was suddenly shaking. She thought she could see Iron Man, flying closer, towards the biggest tear in reality. ‘No, stop, if you go-!’ But of course he couldn’t hear her. He kept flying, up and up, higher and higher, taking himself towards the tear she’d created. Killing himself. At her hand. ‘I can’t- I can’t just-’

‘Give me a second, Foster.’ Natasha sounded out of breath. Jane turned to see her, and her jaw dropped. 

‘What-?’

Natasha had been carrying Loki in a fireman’s lift up to Jane. She dropped him on the floor unceremoniously. He let out a pained wheeze. He reached for something on the ground and Jane kicked at him viciously.

‘Don’t move,’ she snarled at him. He’d poisoned her mind and her work and if he came any closer she was going to push him off the tower.

‘You said you need more magical power,’ said Natasha. ‘He’s got magic.’

‘I… will… not...’ He seemed to be trying to roll away, but he didn’t get very far. Jane shoved him back into place and was rewarded by high pitched noise, barely comprehensible as an oath.

Natasha took the sceptre from Jane’s hands. Loki’s eyes widened, then he let out a laugh that was more a cough.

‘Try it,’ he wheezed. 

‘I have no idea how this works,’ Natasha admitted, with a sideways glance at Jane. And then she jammed the sceptre home.

Jane held her breath for a moment. 

And then Loki spat out another laugh. ‘You think you can…’ was as far as he got before he had to break off and cough again. 

Natasha pursed her lips. ‘Worth a try,’ she said. ‘Plan A it is. Sorry, Foster.’

She hadn’t moved yet, sceptre still pinned to Loki’s chest. Barely thinking, Jane leaned forward to grab it with her. She remembered what she’d felt. The ice surrounding her heart. The world falling back to nothing. A purpose to follow to her death. She felt too the sceptre itself: singing to her heart, warming her, bringing her everything if only she let it. Just like the Tesseract. Two of a kind.

She forced the ice backwards into Loki. He was stronger. _She_ was angrier, but he was still winning, pressing against her mind and _laughing_ at her.

‘Natasha… help…’ she managed to spit out. Her whole head was being crushed under the pressure and the force and the-

Natasha tightened her grip and pushed and Jane felt it in her head and vibrating through her bones but it wasn’t _right_. Natasha’s will was steel though, and Jane could use that. She felt for something in the threads that bound the three of them together, tugged at the edges until the floodgates opened and Natasha was bearing down on Loki.

He was theirs. 

‘What-?’ said Natasha with a gasp.

‘It’s not so hard when you know what magic feels like,’ mumbled Jane. Her voice sounded foreign even to her own ears. Her temples pounded.

Loki was fighting. She could feel it. Natasha must be able to feel it too. Her whole mind was being pushed back on, hit and clawed at, screamed at, shouted into a corner. She bared her teeth at him and clamped down on nothing.

‘No, you’re ours,’ she hissed. She turned to Natasha. ‘Take the sceptre, break the barrier.’

‘Stark- gotta give him a moment-’

‘He needs to hurry the fuck up,’ growled Jane. Beside them, Loki was dragging himself to stand. His whole body shook with the pain of the effort and Jane felt- not triumph like she’d expected, but sympathy tinged with horror. His eyes were glazed. He was doing as she wished, and in her head she could feel him screaming.

Natasha sucked in a breath. ‘Cap says go.’

‘Then go,’ said Jane, to both of them. 

Natasha pushed the sceptre into the swirling mass of light. 

Loki leaned forward then… stopped. A burst of pain and spikes clawed through Jane’s mind, holding its ground, refusing… refusing… Natasha was shouting. Loki stood, stock still, unmoving despite their orders.

The device began to power down. The magic in the air shifted. The edges of the portals quivered. Natasha was stopping it, but it was going to kill-

‘No!’ Jane snatched Loki’s hand and dug her nails into his palm. ‘If you won’t, then give it to me!’

She felt his resistance ease. He would give her this. He would not risk his life to take the Tesseract, but he would let her do it. And that would save Thor, and his friends, and Tony Stark, so that was what mattered.

‘What are you-?’ Natasha yelled, as Jane leaned forward. ‘No, Foster, no!’

To stop the singularities forming as the portals compressed to nothing needed magical energy, but it needed finesse, too. No blast of power would do the job, not unless she was happy to crush everyone. Careful did it. Just a person, slipping between the burning lightning and the force of reality. She’d have sent Loki, if she could, but she couldn’t. So instead she went, taking his hand and pulling at his magic as she did, like she did this every day. The power he gave her seemed to shake through her entire body.

Around her everything burned and the world screamed and the Tesseract sung.

Then she set her hand on the cube, and screamed.

~*~

The universe was whiteblue, each point connected to each other point. Everything was there and everything was everywhere. Stars burst into life, brightly shimmering, bringing life. Nebula drifted. Galaxies wheeled and spun and collided. Black holes crushed, eating and eating and eating. And all around: people everywhere. She felt _life_ , so much life. She was everywhere and nowhere. She could go everywhere.

_But first-_

First there was work to be done. The yellow stone gave her the power to hold off blue, had given her a way to approach. The Jotun magic gave her an edge, let her hold onto herself.

The doorways in the sky bent to her will, and now that was her own again, she closed them, neatly, without mess or struggle or pain. Sewing the edges together with the twine of the tree of the worlds.

Then she turned back to the stars. The universe stretched out. Wide, inviting, impossibly wonderful, glittering around her. She could see it. She could see everything. She reached forward...

Sharp pain in one hand. 

Something held her back.

It dragged and pulled and hauled at her. She fought it. She could see the universe. She had the power, she had… 

Her body began to fall. It was too much. Too weak. She couldn’t-

Blackness burst out of light, and then nothing.

~*~

The sky was blue.

Normal blue. Not bright lightning-blue. Not burning whiteblue, filled with stars. Normal, sky blue. There were a few white clouds.

Jane hurt.

For a moment she thought she was paralysed and fear rushed through her, but there was too much pain. Every part of her felt broken. One hand clutched at gravel, the other at… a hand.

She opened her eyes and recoiled in disgust and even that made her hiss with pain.

‘Planet-stealing bitch,’ muttered Loki, who she’d been holding onto. He was lying beside her, his voice an echo of its former self.

‘I preferred it when he did as he was told,’ came Natasha’s voice, also weak. She was sitting a slight distance away, holding the sceptre. ‘Though he did drag your ass out of there of his own free will. You did not tell me your plan was to grab the damn thing.’

Jane made a questioning noise because even her vocal chords felt bruised.

‘Stark got out,’ said Natasha. ‘Just. So well done for closing it around him. No casualties from our group. Don’t know about civilians. We’ll find out. We lost Loki the second you touched the cube. I couldn’t do it alone and your mind was elsewhere. He grabbed you out after he pulled himself together. Don’t know why.’

‘You would have killed us both,’ said Loki. ‘When I die it will be on my terms.’

‘Well I guess Thor’ll thank you for that later,’ said Jane shortly, trying to count in her head as she breathed, feeling a panic rising within her like a wave. _The city-_

A ghost of a smile crossed Loki’s face. ‘The irony,’ he said. ‘He almost certainly will.’

Sudden fury gave her energy enough to pull back her arm, form a fist, and hit him square on the nose as hard as she could. He let out a grunt, more out of surprise than pain, then his grin returned. She clutched her hand and her arm because it _hurt_ and glared at him.

‘At last I’m starting to see it,’ he said. ‘Jane Foster-’

Thunder rumbled.

Both Jane and Loki froze.

Energy she hadn’t known she possessed flooded Jane. She pushed herself upwards into a sitting position. She couldn’t face him. Not now. Not after this. She was going to be sick. She should go. Leave Loki to him, and leave him to celebrate his victory with his friends. It would be easier for them both, if she wasn’t-

‘Jane.’ Thor touched down surprisingly quietly, then walked to her with purpose. She stared up at him, suddenly frozen in place, until he dropped down to kneel beside her. ‘Are you all right?’ His eyes were soft, worried, taking her in carefully. He let go of Mjolnir and then took her hands in his, his fingers rough but his touch incredibly gentle. His face was dusty and sweaty from the battle, but still his eyes were kind - too kind - and Jane dropped her gaze, engrossing herself in the mail on his arms. It was ripped at the shoulder and stained with blood and she blanched and tried to find somewhere else to look.

‘Hello,’ she said miserably. Her voice wobbled. Her eyes were wet.

‘Oh Jane,’ he said. ‘You are _extraordinary_.’

She couldn’t have that, and she whipped up her head with incredulous fury. ‘I- I-’ But she couldn’t make herself say what she’d done. ‘I shot you!’ she at last managed. Ironically the least of all the things, but the only thing she could dare admit to herself.

‘Mmm,’ he agreed, the corner of his mouth rising. ‘I have never been so happy to be shot at in my life. Later I shall tell you exactly what I thought in that moment, but not now.’ He glanced over her shoulder and his eyes darkened slightly. ‘Now there is work to be done.’

She half turned to see the rest of the superheroes and Thor’s Asgardian friends arrive. ‘Oh,’ she said. 

Beside her, Loki had pushed himself up to a seat. He didn’t look like he was going anywhere fast, but even so, his recovery curdled in her stomach. Were they safe? Was she safe?

‘If it’s all the same to you,’ said Loki, addressing Tony Stark, ‘I’ll have that drink now.’


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for the beta!

SHIELD, Thor discovered, had more than one facility, with more than one containment device for the Hulk. Loki was taken to another, this one on the ground. There he was bound and gagged with bespelled restraints, and Thor placed Mjolnir upon him. He was still badly injured, but those injuries were healing rapidly. Even though his magic appeared to be entirely drained, Thor would take no chances.

‘We will use the Tesseract to return to Asgard,’ he told Fury. ‘But we should wait a day or two. Your world will be a unstable following all that has happened. To create another bridge so soon will not help it heal.’

‘All right,’ Fury said. ‘You have forty-eight hours before I need you out. Any longer and it may turn into a fight over who gets the cube.’

Thor stared him down, and Fury returned the favour. 

Forty-eight hours, however, would be time enough. He saw no need to antagonise his allies, though he would not let the cube remain on Midgard. Could not, in fact: not if they wished him and his friends and his brother to leave.

‘Very well,’ he said, and left Fury.

He found his friends in one of the recreation rooms, making their way through a crate of brown glass bottles as they learned a card game from Steven Rogers. They seemed a little quieter than he might expect, with smiles coming less eagerly to their faces. Even Hogun managed to appear subdued, insofar as that was any different to his normal state. Thor suppressed a tired sigh. Must his brother’s betrayal hurt everyone?

Sif spotted him. ‘The deed is done?’

‘He will not escape his bonds,’ said Thor. ‘We leave two days hence. Until then, we will be guests here.’ He sat down beside them and took a drink. It turned out to be beer, similar to what he’d had in Puente Antiguo. It was not strong, but from what he remembered, Midgardian alcohol never was. 

‘What _are_ you wearing?’ asked Volstagg. 

Thor regarded his friends evenly. ‘My armour needs cleaning and repairing, and Mjolnir is currently occupied so my magic is greatly reduced,’ he said. ‘Just because you are all content to smell foul-’ and to that he received a chorus of objections which he ignored, ‘it does not mean that I am.’ 

He had washed thoroughly before his meeting with Fury, and SHIELD had supplied him with clean clothes. While he preferred to be clean and did not wish to inconvenience his hosts, the clothes were unfortunately not what he would have chosen. They did not fit correctly: the single layered top he remembered was called a t shirt was a little tight; and the pants were soft and hung loosely and would fall down if not for the cord at his waist. Both were decorated with the bird that was SHIELD’s emblem and neither would stand up to an attack from even the dullest of knives. He did not, he felt, look his best. Not that that would normally be such an important thing, however Jane…

Jane who had provided him with similarly ill-fitting clothes and not seemed put off in the slightest, he reminded himself. 

He smiled at his friends serenely. ‘If any of you plan to wash in the next two days, I expect to see you similarly attired.’

Sif and the Warriors Three looked at each other.

‘I would rather put up with the stench of a thousand warriors than be seen like that,’ said Sif.

‘Suit yourself,’ said Thor. He knew cleanliness would beat vanity eventually. He turned to Steven. ‘It is good to see you looking well,’ he said. 

‘Right back at you,’ said Steven, with a small smile.

‘Do you know where the others are?’

‘Romanoff’s resting, Barton’s getting checked out by medical,’ said Steven. ‘They had their debriefs earlier. I only just finished mine. SHIELD wants to know everything. Did you get one?’

Thor considered. ‘I think so,’ he said. He had been asked questions. He had declined to answer anything that was not directly related to the battle. They could know all he did about the Chitauri, but he would not answer anything about the Tesseract’s mysteries. It would go with him, and they would be free of its danger. He understood their curiosity, but he also understood what his father would require of him.

‘Well it doesn’t help that Stark skipped out on his and took Banner back to his tower,’ said Steven. ‘Apparently despite the need for a rebuild it’s still habitable.’ He shook his head. ‘He said we should come to dinner and meet his girlfriend, but I don’t know how I feel about going back there so soon.’

Thor gave a sympathetic nod. ‘Though perhaps it would be better to go sooner, get it over with,’ he said. He had seen many battles in his own home, and knew it could not be avoided forever.

‘Yeah, I know,’ said Steve. ‘I just don’t know if meet-the-girlfriend is the best way of doing that.’

‘Besides, they probably wish for some time alone,’ said Fandral with a grin. Thor snickered and Steven looked momentarily wrong-footed. ‘Speaking of, where is your dear mortal?’

‘I was hoping you might have seen her?’ said Thor, frowning.

‘Not I,’ said Fandral, and glanced around the others.

‘Perhaps she’s still being debriefed?’ said Steven. ‘She’d have a lot more info than us on what Loki got up to before the battle. Or she’s in medical, like Barton.’

Thor got to his feet. ‘I will search for her. If she returns here, please ask her if she is willing to see me? If so, I hope that she might leave word of where I can find her.’

‘I’m sure she’ll be thrilled, old friend,’ said Fandral. ‘Although perhaps you should have kept your armour on. I think the grime of battle might be more appealing than whatever that is called.’ Thor glared at him.

Sif punched Fandral in the shoulder. ‘Don’t be too much yourself, Fandral,’ she said. ‘We’re in no mood for it.’

Fandral punched her back. Thor couldn’t help but give a small smile. At least some things had not been lost.

‘Do not destroy anything, friends,’ he reminded them. ‘We are guests here. Save your battles for home. Or ask Steven if a strong enough room exists.’ He winked at Steven.

‘I’m gonna go with no,’ said Steven. ‘And Steve, please.’

Thor smiled at his new friend and bowed slightly, before leaving the room in search of Jane.

His first stop was the healing rooms. There he found Clint Barton, attached to a number of devices by wires. It looked intrusive and inconvenient, but it was at least more advanced than Natasha Romanoff’s healing techniques. Barton was tearing pages from a glossy booklet, folding them into flying craft, and throwing them across the room. They all landed in a black bin, which by now was near overflowing.

‘Are you well?’ asked Thor. As much as he desired Jane’s company, he could not ignore the harm his brother had done to others, nor what bravery those others had shown in fighting Loki.

Barton seemed to take him in cautiously, for which Thor did not feel offense. ‘Yeah, they’re just checking me out,’ he said. ‘After all that happened, they want to make sure my head’s screwed on right. Brainwashing’s a _scientific curiosity_ so this is gonna be a fun few weeks for me.’ He tossed another paper ship. It flew in a neat arc, hit the lighting fixture, rebounded, then soared towards the bin. ‘Plus Nat almost definitely gave me seven different kinds of concussion. So here we are.’

For a moment, Thor stood in silence, wrong-footed. He had comforted wounded warriors and bereaved families hundreds of times; praised their strength and their bravery, spoken of the glory of Valhalla. But Clint Barton was not a warrior of Asgard, injured in a glorious battle. He had been stolen and tortured by Thor’s own brother, and had stood to fight against him.

‘For my brother’s actions-’

‘Don’t,’ interrupted Barton.

Thor stopped speaking, again wrong-footed.

‘Look, don’t apologise for him or explain him away. I don’t want… any of that.’

‘Nothing I say could be apology enough,’ acknowledged Thor. ‘You are correct to stop my attempt, which was foolish. And I am in your debt for the battles you fought. Without you, and the others, I should have had no hope.’

Barton looked up at him, sighed, and shook his head. ‘You really do talk like a goddamned Viking, don’t you?’ Thor blinked at him. He knew what a Viking was, but was not sure if it was the time to explain that he did not speak their language at all. ‘You’re after Doc F, right?’

‘Oh,’ said Thor, nonplussed. He hadn’t realised his search was quite so clear to all.

‘Don’t be too surprised. It’s not subtle. Firstly, I was in New Mexico. I didn’t shoot you when you broke into our base and went for the hammer. _You’re welcome._ Secondly, I’ve been bodyguarding her so I’ve read her file. Thirdly, your baby brother had a few choice things to say on the subject. Although he stopped talking to her about you real quick when she managed to work the word “sexy” into the conversation four times in the space of two minutes - and he still thought she wasn’t fighting back, _ha!_ Fourthly you were practically making out with her when the rest of us got to the top of the tower. So yeah, I didn’t think you were here for me.’

Thor stared at Barton in silence for a few minutes, processing the sudden volume of information. The mention of his brother curdled his stomach, but the casual way Barton talked of Jane fighting - and the way she had apparently done it - filled him with such joy that he could hardly contain it.

‘Thank you for not shooting at me,’ he said eventually, with a lopsided smile.

Barton snorted. ‘She’s not here, anyway. Maybe she skipped out on orders. They might still be debriefing her though. She knows a lot more than most of the rest of us, after all. He told her virtually his whole plan and she was forced to do most of the work.’

At that, Thor’s joy dimmed. He’d hoped to find Jane resting and healing. ‘I will look for her,’ he said.

‘Try corridors E3 through to E7 on floor B4,’ said Barton. ‘And if you see Nat, tell her I’m running out of _Cosmo_ and need some more.’ He tore out another page from his booklet and began to make another paper craft.

As Thor left the room Barton’s voice arrested him once more, this time harder and darker.

‘Loki. What’ll happen to him?’

‘I expect him to be executed,’ said Thor, keeping his voice as even as possible. ‘If any of royal blood speak for him, my father my commute that to imprisonment.’

‘Will you speak for him?’

‘I find it hard to see a reason to,’ said Thor, at last. The words settled heavy upon his shoulders as he spoke them. He had been avoiding thinking of it.

~*~

He found Jane, at last. 

She was shouting at a small cluster SHIELD agents, as she was wont to do. The group had just exited one of the rooms in the corridor, and did not seem to notice Thor. He hung back to let her finish her battle. 

Since he had last seen her, she too had washed and changed, into an outfit the same as his. His lips twitched involuntarily upwards. They matched now, as they had in her patterned shirts under the desert skies. Hers were similarly ill-fitting too: the bird-emblazoned t shirt swamped her.

Her words to the SHIELD agents pushed the smile right from him, however.

‘-thousand times! I don’t know anything else!’

‘Dr Foster, you were there. You saw it all. You _built_ most of it. We need to-’

‘Look, I have been awake for forty hours straight, I cannot _see_ right now. Every bone in my body hurts. I need some rest.’ She had run her hands through her hair and seemed to be near pulling it out in desperation and his heart broke for her. When she spoke again however, her anger had returned. ‘And after I’ve rested I’ll come back ready to tell you assholes precisely why I am not saying another goddamned word. Wait, I don’t even need to, because you tried to nuke New York, and I will go to jail before I tell you how to build a portal because this is exactly what started this shit in the first place.’ 

‘It needn’t come to that, Dr Foster,’ said another of the agents. His voice was cool, impersonal. He was a threat.

‘No it needn’t,’ agreed Thor, stepping up behind Jane. The air temperature had dropped. He could feel lightning at his fingertips. He had intended to let her finish her fight, but he could near feel her exhaustion himself, for all that forty hours seemed like no time at all. He turned to Jane. ‘I see you are finished here, Jane. Perhaps you’d care to walk with me for a little?’

The cluster of SHIELD agents stepped back a little, drawing together. Jane turned to look at him and gave him a thin, tight smile. 

‘Yeah, please, let’s go.’

The man with the cold voice looked as though he wished to prevent them leaving, but he stopped himself. A wise decision, Thor could not help but think, as he let Jane take his arm and led her away. She leaned into him, her hand on his arm strong, but even as they walked she seemed to stumble.

‘The healing rooms?’ he suggested.

Her face scrunched up in momentary confusion and he thought it delightful. ‘Oh. Med bay? No. I- I need sleep.’

‘You are well enough? Barton talked of concussion.’ Thor was unsure what treatment for such a thing was required for a human, especially since the head injury had been given by Natasha in the name of healing.

‘They already checked me out before the debrief. And him. They wanted us back after. To study us. After-effects. Barton’s got to go play nice if he wants his job at the end. I don’t care about me. Screw ‘em.’ 

‘Where are your rooms?’ 

The confusion returned before she ran her free hand through her hair. ‘Not here. Never been to this base. I just. I need.’ She looked up at Thor helplessly. ‘Have you seen a couch or anything?’

‘SHIELD have given me rooms for the duration of my stay. With your permission, we will go there.’

‘Oh. Er. Yeah. Sure. Thanks.’ Thor smiled at her, although he suspected in her sleep-deprived state she would have agreed to anything.

Still, in his rooms she fell upon his bed without even hesitating to ask and buried her face into the pillow, kicking off shoes as she did, one of which remained atop the covers as she did not kick it far enough. Thor removed the shoe with some amusement and placed it beside its partner. He looked up to find Jane wriggling herself under the covers, and he smiled down at her. 

Then she opened her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, I- how long are you-? I need to- but will you be here-?’

‘My friends and I will leave two days hence,’ he explained. ‘You have time to sleep, Jane. And then we will have time to speak.’ She let out a small breath. Relief, he thought, which warmed something inside him. He had been so certain of her feelings in New Mexico, but Loki could easily have poisoned the thought of him.

‘Do you have to go do something? Now?’

He frowned slightly. ‘Not that I know. What would you ask of me?’

She reached for his hand and pulled him into bed with her. Thor went without hesitation. Jane was bold with her demands of him - she had kissed him in a way that had scarcely left his mind since that day - but she wanted nothing he was not prepared to give. Rather than kiss him again, she pulled her entire self against him, wrapping arms around him and burying her face into his ridiculous t shirt. Perhaps it was better to have worn softer clothes after all. He copied her, holding her to him. Her hair tickled his nose as he kissed the top of her head with a happy sigh. He could remain like this forever, if she’d let him.

‘Sorry, I just.’ She pulled back a little to see his face, and he studied hers. There was a slight wobble in her lip as she spoke, a fear in her eyes he wished he did not see. ‘I feel like I kinda need a bit of superhero protection at the moment.’ She attempted to laugh, only it came out flat and unhappy.

Thor pressed another kiss atop her hair. ‘Sleep, Jane. You are safe now. I will not leave unless you ask it of me.’

‘OK,’ she said quietly. ‘OK, I can- that’s good.’

At last, she seemed to let herself rest, pressing her nose into his shirt once more. He held onto her, silently promising her with his every thought that he would protect her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium)!
> 
> And just a note that this has an exchange that kinda doesn't match with Agents of Shield 1x15 ('Yes Men') canon. Of course if you haven't seen AoS, you won't notice either way!

_‘He caused this, you know,’ said Loki._

_The sun beat down on them. Jane’s hair streamed out behind her as the car rushed across the desert. Behind them, sand danced and eddied in the wake of their wheels, billowing out, leaving a clear footprint of their path. If Loki wasn’t worried by that, then she shouldn’t be either._

_The tip of her nose felt like it was burning in the desert sun, and her hands were aching and strained: one clutching the side of the truck, holding herself in place, the other gripping the case with the Tesseract. It was hers. She would not let go._

_A particularly large jolt nearly sent her flying until Loki snatched her arm and pulled her back to her seat. He held her down, hand to her waist. He didn’t move away._

_A sudden memory of_ self _rose and with it came panic, just at the edges. Her brain rebelled. She didn’t understand the fear and she didn’t understand the lack of it, all at once._

_Loki’s lip twisted. ‘So now you fight?’ he said. He had to nearly shout over the rush of the air around them. ‘Have no fear. I want your work, not you. I have not my brother’s... inclinations.’_

_‘How did he cause this?’ she asked, thinking back to Loki’s words._

_‘He risked my life, his own, and his friends’ over spoiled pride, inciting a war that would have killed thousands. Then, when he returned, he stopped me from ending it and sent me to my death. All because a few tiny, foolish humans had so influenced his mind.’_

_Jane was unsure what this had to do with the current situation. Her allegiance was clear but even she could recognise that her new boss had a strange way of seeing the world._

_‘What did you do that changed him so?’ demanded Loki._

_Again, she was conscious of a battle fought and won, or perhaps lost, in her head. ‘We… made breakfast.’_

_Loki narrowed his eyes. She had a feeling this wasn’t the answer he’d been looking for. It was strangely a relief to realise she didn’t have that answer. All the same, she reminded herself, she had to try if he wanted her to._

_‘There was a storm when he landed,’ she said. She licked her lips. ‘I hit him with my car.’_

_Something inside of her was screaming._

_~*~_

_‘Don’t touch it!’ she snapped._

_The man was one of Barton’s group of allies. Enemies of SHIELD. Most of them were big men with weapons and a bad attitude, was Jane’s assessment. They could be made to fetch and carry but they weren’t much use as a second set of eyes. Loki had taken their leaders into his heart, but not the foot soldiers. He hadn’t wanted to spread himself too thinly, he’d told her. Not when the rank and file could be ordered by their commanders._

_This man, then, was his own. He was not so privileged as to see their purpose. He could not understand._

_He narrowed his eyes at Jane. ‘Who’re you to tell me what to do?’ he demanded. ‘Bitch.’ He muttered the last as he reached for the Tesseract again. Jane smacked his hand away._

_‘You’ll get yourself killed!’_

_He squared off against her. ‘Show some respect, you-’ He clenched his fists and began to move. Jane reached behind her on her workbench to find something to defend herself with._

_Then suddenly, her assailant cried out in pain and there was Loki, her protector, clutching the man’s arm._

_‘You, perhaps, should show some respect,’ said Loki, voice soft. He looked at Jane, with his usual grin. ‘Interesting choice of weapon, Jane Foster.’_

_She looked. She’d picked up a hammer. She turned back to Loki and shrugged. That didn’t seem relevant._

_‘Do you want to punish him for his insolence or shall I?’ The man was still whimpering in Loki’s grip._

_‘I want him to do as he’s told,’ said Jane flatly._

_‘Oh? Is that all?’ Loki laughed. ‘I could feel your rage but a moment ago. Why don’t you do it, Jane Foster? Show the man how much he should respect you. Do to him what my brother would gladly do, given hardly any provocation! He has no significance. His loss will not harm us. He is not important the way we are. Kill him.’_

_He_ wanted _her to. She could feel the push in her head, growing and growing, relentless and grinning, bearing down on her._

_‘I…’ Something was wrong. Something didn’t… match. Something… wasn’t… ‘I…’_

_A clatter. She opened her eyes. The hammer was at her feet. She’d dropped it. She stared down at it. She should pick it up, if Loki wished her to. She should hit the man around the head again and again, batter out his brains until Loki was satisfied. His orders were hers to follow, after all._

_But..._

_Then suddenly the pressure vanished, and a crack of bone and a cry from the man made her look up. Loki had broken his arm and now threw him away. He soared backwards twenty feet and landed in a heap on the damp floor. He didn’t move again._

_‘You’ll fight that suggestion, but you’ll happily build a portal that means the death of millions,’ said Loki. ‘Won’t get your hands dirty, will you?’_

_‘I…’ Jane looked down at the hammer once more. She suddenly felt as though she’d run a marathon. She didn’t know why._

_‘Still, leave him for now,’ said Loki. ‘I’d rather you work than fight me. I’m sure I can persuade you to kill someone for me later. For now… continue building the bridge you’ve always dreamed of.’_

_Jane blinked up at him. She was not convinced the portal she’d always dreamed of was anything like the portal he wanted. She thought to mention that, but something tiny in her refused. Was it his business? He had not asked. As long as she made a portal that did his bidding, did it matter?_

_~*~_

_She didn’t think she’d ever held a gun before, and yet Loki had left her with one for some reason._

_‘I’m under orders to kill you,’ she told Iron Man._

_‘That went twenty feet wide.’_

_‘I’ve never fired a gun before, OK! I’m doing my best!’ Something scratching in the corners of her mind told her this was a strange conversation to have. Loki wanted him dead, though, which meant so did she. She fired again._

_Then he reminded her that bullets would never penetrate his armour. Of course they wouldn’t. Stupid of her not to think of it. She wasn’t much good to Loki if she managed to push basic facts like that out of her head. Her stomach lurched. Whose side was she meant to be on?_

_There were other ways to kill though, ways that did not require bullets. She reached for her device._

_~*~_

_‘Jane!’_

_He rose into sight, Mjolnir spinning in his arms. His voice- that voice- Her name. He’d said her name before. In kindness and sorrow and joy, and now it was fear. He was shining and beautiful and ready to fight._

__Thor _. Something possessive in her mind latched onto him as hers._

_But he was fighting her. He was her enemy. He would stop her if he could. He was a danger to her and to Loki._

_Panic rose. She had to stop him. She had to kill him. She had to kill..._

_She raised the gun wildly. She had to…_

_Her mind rebelled. ‘Don’t!’ she yelled. ‘Loki- Loki ordered me to kill you. I have to- I have to-’ Inside she was screaming at him to leave._

_She closed her fingers on the trigger. She closed her eyes as she shot. Her head burned._

_When he left, she collapsed onto the ground and sobbed. She’d failed. She’d failed and she’d succeeded._

_Whose… side was she on?_

~*~

Jane shouted and kicked as she tried to escape. It was too hot and she was trapped and she couldn’t-

‘Jane.’

She froze. That voice. 

Oh.

Momentary elation was drowned by an icey rush of terror. 

It had been real.

‘I-’ She said. She stopped. She had nothing to say.

Some sensibility returned to her. They were in borrowed rooms on a SHIELD base in New York City. The regulation bed with its slightly scratchy blue blanket over crisp institutional white sheets was only just big enough for the two of them. The regulation desk in one corner was a simple wooden frame with a cheap looking wheeled chair, and in another corner there was a closet and drawer set that were equally devoid of any charm or personality. The regulation walls were off-white. A military room. A prison cell. Either. Both. She dimly remembered collapsing on the bed and falling asleep. It could have been minutes ago. It could have been hours. 

Thor did not seem to care about his surroundings. In the dim light of fluorescent city bulbs that made its way through the blinds, she could see his eyes on her, worried. She dropped her gaze to the sheets.

She’d pushed him away as she woke, she must have done, and now he kept that careful distance. She was glad of it at the same time that she hated it. 

‘I’m… sorry,’ she mumbled.

‘Jane, you have nothing to apologise for,’ he said. He even sounded like he believed it.

The folds in the sheets shifted as Thor moved, and still she watched them, eyes down. She couldn’t face him. She remembered being small and her dad getting out a large rubber sheet and a bunch of balls and explaining gravity. She’d been too young for equations, then, but ball bearings causing a dip in a sheet, sending tennis balls and ping-pong balls off their paths, bending and swooping and falling… that had made a strange sort of sense. Thor was heavier than a ball bearing, so the sheet bent further, pulled more things in.

He reached for her, his hand hovering an inch or so above her own. She thought she could feel how warm he was, even at that distance. ‘May I?’ he asked.

She swallowed and nodded minutely, still looking at the folds in the sheets where the mattress sunk underneath him.

He took her hand. His touch was gentle, always so gentle. Impossibly soft for a man who could command storms. ‘This was not your fault, Jane,’ he said. His voice was low and steady. ‘You must fix that in your head until you believe it.’

‘Not my- not my fault?’ Incredulity mixed with anger mixed with lurching horror. She looked up without thinking. ‘If I hadn’t been there he couldn’t have done it! I didn’t even fight! He said so! I wanted what he wanted!’

His eyes were kind and for a moment she hated that. ‘Loki lies, Jane. Everything he said is a lie. Even your legends called him the god of lies and tricks, and that was long before anyone could ever have dreamed it would come to this.’ His voice was suddenly bitter, with a sorrow that she thought he was trying to hide. She squeezed his hand desperately, her brain failing her when it came to some adequate response. He returned the squeeze, with the trace of a sad smile. ‘He would have found another scientist, or another way, sooner or later. And you did fight. You fought every step. If you do not see it now, I hope that you will see it soon.’

‘I didn’t- I still did all that stuff- I- New York-’ Her whole body shook. She’d smelled the smoke. She’d seen the broken buildings and heard the sirens. She’d picked her way across rubble and broken glass, and vomited nothingness the second she’d seen a person’s arm, lifeless and bloody, sticking out from underneath broken concrete. In the SHIELD helicopter she’d not been able to face the broken city as they’d flown away, and she’d blocked her eyes with her hands and tried not to scream and scream and scream.

‘I could see you fight, Jane. You even attacked him with your own weapon.’

‘I shot _you_!’ she shouted. Then she froze, surprised at herself for the anger that had risen within her. She just couldn’t let him defend her unjustly.

‘I am confident that your laws of physics as you know them easily describe the path of a projectile weapon. Loki stood between you and I. You fought his control and broke it when he did not expect it. You shot him, even though you convinced yourself you were shooting me in order to do it.’ Thor was so _complacent_. Jane felt a rising irritation again. She shouldn’t be defended from this. She didn’t need that. She didn’t want it. Thor then looked away from her, seeming to concentrate on the wall over her shoulder. ‘There’s an irony there. He who attacks with tricks and lies planned for and expected only the sorts of defence that I, or the Captain, or the Iron Man might level. He did not plan for Natasha’s tricks and lies. He did not plan for your hidden rebellion.’ Thor’s mouth twisted.

_Brother_ , thought Jane, because it was so easy to forget. She reached for Thor and grabbed hold of him and buried her face in his shoulder. She felt him mimic her, although while she was gripping onto him with all her might, she got the feeling his own embrace was more careful. His beard tickled at the edge of her collar bone, where her t-shirt had ridden down slightly and she sighed. For a moment she could push everything away. For a moment she could feel safe and comforted, and she hoped so could he.

The moment passed too quickly. Violent, intrusive memories pushed at her, tearing at any happiness piece by piece.

‘I should have- I should have fought more,’ she mumbled helplessly into his shoulder. 

‘Jane-’ He pulled pack, removed his hand from her back to gently cup her face, eyes holding her gaze again. He was so warm. She leaned into him without thinking, felt a minute tightening of his fingers as she did. Then for a moment he seemed to hesitate. It reminded her of New Mexico, of those first few hours after Erik had got him out of SHIELD’s custody. He’d been uncertain and hovering and apologetic and, well, _sad_. That sadness was there now, too. She saw him seem to almost steel himself. ‘Jane, I know what it’s like, to have your mind and heart stolen by another.’ 

She blinked. Her mouth formed a slight ‘O’ shape before she realised and shut it. ‘The… sceptre?’ she guessed. Had Loki-?

But Thor shook his head. ‘There was a woman. She wished for the throne of Asgard. Her particular type of magic enables her to compel people - _men_ \- to do her bidding.’ Again, Thor dropped his gaze, this time mirroring her earlier avoidance to study the bedsheets. ‘I pushed away and fought with my friends. I asked her for her hand. But for Lady Sif and my mother, I might still be hers to command.’

Jane felt herself freeze. She would have thought Thor of all people would be safe from- There almost seemed to be _shame_ in his voice. A sudden surge of protective anger flooded her.

‘It was a long time ago,’ he said at last. He glanced up, and attempted a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. ‘I have forgiven myself, for the most part.’

‘What the hell’s to forgive if she brainwashed you?’ demanded Jane. ‘Are you OK? Is she in jail? Tell me she’s at least in jail. Are you OK?’

‘At the risk of winning this argument in an extremely irritating way,’ said Thor, a sudden flash of his earlier complacency returning, ‘I have nothing to forgive myself for.’

Jane scowled at him despite everything. He gave a soft laugh, then leaned forward in the bed and pressed his nose to hers. Her breath still kinda caught in her throat for a second because he had that effect. She wanted him to kiss her. It probably wasn’t the time. She really wanted to kiss him though. 

‘I do not mean to cause you worry or anger on my behalf, Jane,’ he said softly.

‘Well story time about your... your… abusive relationship is a surefire way to suck at that,’ pointed out Jane.

At that he gave her a smile. He was still close enough that she couldn’t really see his mouth, but the way his eyes crinkled around the edges told her that much. ‘Your defence heartens me nonetheless,’ he said, sounding so actually genuinely pleased her stomach flip-flopped. ‘But I tell you this not for your kind words, but to assure you that though it takes time, you will eventually be able to separate the truth from the lie. Now everything you did feels as if you did it with your own hand, even if you know that you would not.’

‘But I-’

‘Did do these things. Yes. I know. You cannot undo your physical actions nor how you feel for them. However, in time you will see which of those actions were Loki and which were you. I think you will find that I am right to assert just how much you fought him.’

Jane dropped her gaze again, focussing instead on SHIELD’s stupid eagle logo on his t shirt, just visible under the edge of the covers. She made to run a hand through her hair, but he caught her grip. 

‘I promise you, you will heal. You were strong enough to fight him these past few days. You are strong enough to fight your own doubts and fears now.’ His voice still didn’t waver in its certainty.

She felt a sudden wave of exhaustion, overwhelmed by everything, but… better, maybe. A tiny bit. A small candle flame in the darkness. Thor’s relentless, unmoving defence was hard to fight against, not when she was still so tired, so full of aches and pains and bruises.

‘Thank you,’ she mumbled, mostly at the pillow.

He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her back again, cuddling her into him. She liked this development in their relationship that meant cuddling in bed was fine, even if he was significantly less squishy than most people she’d hugged. He was still very soft and gentle with her, somehow.

‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘have you someone to talk to?’

She blinked. ‘Like… Darcy?’ she asked.

He pursed his lips slightly. ‘I meant, not a friend. A healer, would you call them? But of the mind, not the body.’

‘Like… a therapist?’ she said, blinking across at him.

‘It is easy to hide and speak to no one,’ he said. ‘Friends and family help, but so too does someone who is separate. After- after what happened to me, there were things even I could not bring myself to talk of with Sif. To speak to someone whose good opinion was irrelevant and whose job was to help me was easier.’

‘Right,’ said Jane. For some reason an alien Viking telling her to get therapy had not been precisely how she’d expected their conversation to go. ‘I guess that… makes sense. I don’t know how qualified most Earth therapists are for “I got brainwashed by a Norse God” though.’

Thor gave her a slightly wry smile. ‘Perhaps,’ he agreed, ‘but if you can find someone who can help, it will be worth it.’

She sighed and leaned into him again. ‘I still need to sleep,’ she said.

‘Then rest,’ he replied. ‘You slept for barely four hours, Jane. I do not know exactly how much sleep Midgardians need, but I feel it is more than that.’

Her lip twitched slightly. ‘Little bit,’ she agreed. ‘You’re not… bored?’ She didn’t want him to leave, but she was suddenly conscious she’d asked him to hang about in a featureless room with no books or TV or anything to do.

‘I have also been sleeping, and plan to resume such when you do, for at least a few more hours.’

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Sorry I woke you up.’

‘I sleep easily,’ he said. ‘Too many battles snatching half an hour’s rest when I can.’

‘Well… OK,’ she said, because he was definitely operating on a completely different level to her. She felt around in her SHIELD-provided sweatpants for her phone. She’d turned it off at Barton’s instruction to prevent SHIELD tracking them, and it had somehow survived the subsequent mess with only a cracked screen and with fifty percent battery still remaining. ‘If you get bored, you can borrow this. Pin code is “1915”.’

He took it from her, forehead creased in a slight frown that she found unreasonably adorable. He’d played with her laptop for twenty minutes in New Mexico though, so she was sure he’d figure out her phone. Carefully, he leaned behind to place it on the small table beside the bed. 

‘Many thanks,’ he said, and then resumed cuddling her, because that was now a totally normal thing they did. Jane really did not have a problem with that at all. She pulled him into her and nuzzled his t shirt. There was so _much_ in her head and she still didn’t really want to waste her precious hours with Thor unconscious, but her eyes were so heavy, pulling down, dragging her into sleep, and he was warm and soft and holding her safe. She let herself relax, just a little, and shut her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ongoing thanks to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for the beta read!

When Jane woke, the first thing she became aware of was Thor. He was snoring quietly, hair scattered over his face, the pillow, everywhere, like a golden halo, outermost strands tickling her nose. His arm around her had become less an embrace and more a deadweight, pinning her to the mattress by her hips. They’d migrated a little, so he was taking up far more than his fair share of bed and she was up against the wall (although she was pleased to see she had most of the blankets, so at least she’d won that fight). He looked bizarrely normal. In that moment, he was the weirdly buff blond dude she’d picked up in the desert, not the however-many-thousand-years-old alien warrior god prince. He’d drooled on the pillow a bit. The fact that she found that kinda precious told her she was _way_ too far gone.

The light through the window was natural now, and her stomach felt hollow. Her brain was rested enough to allow her the temporary reprieve against the sheer weight of desolation lurking whenever she thought of the previous days. Instead she could focus on the practicalities. She needed to pee, and to shower, and ideally to find some fresh clothes, and to eat. Outside that immediate bubble was a foggy, horrified mass of fear and nausea and she was not going to let it through yet. Bathroom. Clothes. Food. All of which necessitated waking up Thor. Which she both did and didn’t want to do. He was so cute and peaceful. But they only had one day, so perhaps it was time to just go for it. It was definitely time for her to get to the bathroom.

Jane wriggled closer to him, reflecting as she did that her aches and pains were duller, though still present. Physically she was getting better, at least. 

She copied one of his gestures and moved her hand up to cup his face, running her fingers through his hair and combing it away from his eyes as she did. It was very soft and didn’t seem to tangle at all. It was really unreasonably pretty. She ran her fingers back and forward across his beard a couple of times, because, well, that was always weirdly satisfying to do with beards. When she glanced up she realised his eyes were open and regarding her in a slightly baffled, fairly happy, but mostly sleepy sort of way.

‘Hey,’ she said.

He smiled. ‘Hello, Jane.’

It felt good to smile back.

It didn’t feel right, and the walls in her head were sort of shaky and threatening to crumble, but it felt _good_.

She thought: _We still haven’t kissed again._ And then she banished that because it would be too much to be happy about too quickly. 

And then she thought it again with furious determination because why _shouldn’t_ she be happy, just for a few moments. He’d be going back to Asgard soon. She had a day, maybe a day and a half. If she could just shut her brain up for that long, compartmentalise things properly, then that would be great. Therapy and healthy coping mechanisms would have to wait.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘I’m…’ She started answering too quickly before she knew what the answer was, and had to pause to think. ‘Better for sleeping. It’s easier to… to process things right now than it was yesterday.’

He touched her cheek. ‘Good.’

‘I also need to shower, and to eat, and all that stuff,’ she said, sitting up in bed. ‘Mind if I…?’ Thor gestured for her to go. 

There was a small bathroom attached to the room, an identical design and layout to various other SHIELD living quarters she’d seen over the last year. She scowled at herself in the mirror and didn’t linger there. She looked pale and tired and peeking out the top of her t shirt around her neck was a purple bruise shaped like a hand. Loki had left his mark, temporarily at least. Hopefully that temporary status would be true metaphorically as well as literally, although then and there, that seemed a lot to hope for.

~*~

_‘This plan of yours is going to kill a lot of people,’ she said, more to her equipment than to Loki. She knew he didn’t care about lives lost. Perhaps that was why she said it after he’d already started to leave. It wasn’t a relevant fact to the plan. Why was she even telling him?_

_‘That is the point. The more die, the more easily those who remain will bow to me.’ His reply was crisp, irritated. She wasn’t meant to irritate him. She wasn’t sure why questions irritated him. She should stop asking questions._

_But she_ had _to ask questions, a little voice she barely recognised rose within to remind her. She was a scientist. It was her job. If she didn’t ask questions, she couldn’t do her job. Even if those questions irritated him, it didn’t matter. She needed precise answers. Loki’s feelings didn’t matter._

_The voice was convincing._

_‘Huh,’ she’d said, processing this input from Loki carefully. Her body focussed on the Tesseract. Her entire purpose was to focus on the Tesseract and build a portal. And in order to build the best possible portal, she needed all the data. Loki’s idea of “stable” (which was what he wanted the portal to be) was already somewhat questionable. The potential for casualties seemed even more important to clearly define. ‘So there’s nobody you think is indispensable? Not even your brother?’_

_She was suddenly aware of a snapping pain in her shoulder and made breathless by being shoved against a wall, his hand on her neck. She could feel her eyes watering. She couldn’t breathe. She grabbed at his hand with her own, not thinking, but his grip was iron. Then she knew he did not want her to claw at him with her nails, and dropped her fight, instead focussing on sucking in frantic, tiny, labored breaths._

_‘Listen to me, you stupid whore, I do not care who dies,’ he hissed. ‘In fact, I want my brother dead. If you see him, you kill him yourself! You kill all of those stupid powered so-called heroes or you die doing so! Do you understand me?’ She forced a nod, trying not to whimper. ‘This is my plan, and you will cease trying to dictate it to me. One more question and I’ll break your neck, understood?’_

_She managed another nod. He dropped his hold. She fell to the ground, gasping for air._ This isn’t right, _said the voice. She ignored it._

 __He doesn’t care who dies, _added the voice._ Maybe that includes him.

_Jane opened her mouth, but he didn’t want questions. He wanted her to draw her own intelligent conclusions in order to make the plan a success. He probably did not want a plan where his death was an inevitability._

__Probably not, _agreed the voice._ But it sounds like if the best way to fulfill his orders risks his life, he doesn’t care about that. __

_That wasn’t… quite right. But he didn’t want questions. So. Maybe it was. Did it matter?_

_She pulled herself upright and as she did, felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder and grabbed her arm reflexively, screwing shut her eyes for a moment while she forced back the pain. She’d been banned from questions, but perhaps an injury forcing her work to stop would be the exception. ‘I think you dislocated my shoulder,’ she informed him with careful politeness. He might not know how easily broken human bodies were. ‘Could you pop it back in, please? I need a full range of motion for my work.’_

_For some reason, that had seemed to irritate him deeply._

_For some reason, a tiny, deep, hidden part of her felt like that was a victory._

_Whose side was she on? Doubt flickered momentarily._

_Her body and her mind continued to work on the portal._

_But this_ wasn’t right _. Buried deep inside, anger bubbled._

~*~

It was something of a shock for Jane to realise, as she scrubbed desperately at her bruises in the shower, trying to clean Loki’s fingermarks from her throat, that that little voice in the back of her head had been _her_.

~*~

SHIELD’s bases were akin to barracks in many ways, Thor had learned. In addition to being able to acquire clean clothes for himself and Jane (more t-shirts and the soft pants he had now learned were called “sweatpants”), there was a well staffed kitchen, albeit one where he had to queue to obtain his food. The breakfast food was greasy in a way that would satisfy even the worst of hangovers, and Thor felt comforted by the familiar clatter of a hundred soldiers at their meals. He helped himself to something of everything - noting as he did Jane’s more spartan plate of eggs and toasted bread - and joined Sif, the Warriors Three, Steve, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton on one of the large tables. He was pleased to see Sif and the Warriors had at last foregone their armour and were in borrowed clothes that matched his and Jane’s. 

‘Not a word,’ said Sif, catching his grin and levelling upon him a look of fury. She could have passed for human. He and the Warriors a little less so: none of the male SHIELD warriors wore long hair, and very few of them had beards.

‘Jane, you remember Lady Sif, and Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg?’

‘Uh, hi,’ said Jane. Her tone held its nervousness obviously, which he thought very endearing.

‘And we only met briefly, but I’m Steve.’ Steve leaned over the table to shake her hand. There was no hesitation or concern in his voice, only a warm smile with a hint of compassion, and for that Thor was truly grateful.

‘Jane,’ she said tightly. 

Thor had put down his tray of food, and was making to climb into the bench arrangement, but Jane stood bolted in place. Thor cursed himself - he should have suggested they eat somewhere quieter - and internally debated a gentle touch to her arm or back, to reassure her. He did not wish for her to feel caged, but-

‘Hey, nice work with the bruises,’ said Barton at Jane, pointing to his neck then giving a hand gesture that translated positively: he made a fist and raised his thumb to the sky. ‘I could never piss the bastard off enough to get him to land one on me. Couldn’t quite persuade my brain to get the right tone.’

Jane stared at him momentarily. Then, to Thor’s unending relief, she smiled. It was a small smile, and not joyful so much as triumphant, but it was beautiful. However much his insides twisted and the clouds far above their heads roiled at the mention of his brother daring to lay a hand on her, for Jane to smile it was worth it.

‘He got really annoyed when you escaped,’ she said. She at last put down her tray and sat down, and Thor made himself comfortable beside her. 

‘Nice,’ said Barton, with evident satisfaction.

‘Apparently you told him you were a way better fighter than Natasha and would definitely kill her or bring her to him.’

At that, Natasha looked up from her food and raised an eyebrow.

Barton gave grim smile. ‘Well he’d just finished spitting and hissing about all the times he beat his brother up.’ He glanced at Thor momentarily with his own eyebrow raise before turning back to Jane. ‘I figured we were using the insulted-baby-brother definition of “best fighter” so I went with it.’

Natasha gave a quiet laugh and touched his arm. ‘You’re a pretty good fighter, all things considered,’ she said. He sent her a small, tight smile.

Thor turned away to begin eating, not wishing to intrude. The food was familiar enough: pork (if he was any judge, for it was heavily salted and processed), eggs, potatoes, mushrooms and tomatoes, with toasted bread at the side. In addition he had a plate of several pancakes and a similar golden-coloured round object made with a grid pattern. These he doused with the syrup that he had so enjoyed in New Mexico. He also had a bowl filled with samples of different grains and small objects in a variety of colours, which Jane had showed him to pour milk over. The fruit he’d wanted to try and the coffee he’d been keen to reacquaint himself with she’d had to help carry, as their trays were not large.

When he next looked up, he realised that Steve had gained an additional bruise to his cheek since Thor had last seen him.

‘You are injured?’ he asked, with a frown.

‘Ah, yeah,’ said Steve. His smile in Sif’s direction was a little shy. ‘I was showing them the gym and the training areas. And we kinda had a go.’

‘He fought valiantly,’ said Sif. ‘As we expected, of course, from his battles against the Chitauri.’

‘The equipment here is a little lighter than we are used to, though,’ said Hogun. ‘It would be difficult to train here for a long time.’

‘He means the weights machines,’ said Steve, to Jane and the other Midgardians. ‘I mean, I can move them, but these guys can pick them up with one hand.’

‘Well you did say the purpose was to lift the weights,’ said Fandral, with a grin. Volstagg thumped him in the arm and Thor shook his head.

‘Hey if you’re free later, want to go a few rounds?’ asked Steve to Thor. ‘Sif said you’re a bit better than she is.’

Thor glanced at Sif with a frown, thinking this was both a severe understatement and suspiciously charitable of her. 

‘Only because of Mjolnir,’ said Sif sedately. She speared a mushroom. ‘Before you wielded it I won every fight.’

‘We were _children_ ,’ pointed out Thor. Since then he had grown many inches in both height and across the shoulders. He turned back to Steve. ‘Certainly I will fight you, if you do not mind risking a few more bruises.’ 

Steve grinned. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he said. Thor grinned back.

Natasha sighed. ‘Rogers, should we be worried that the main thing you want to know about extraterrestrial life is what it feels like when it punches you?’

~*~

Barton somehow persuaded her to go to the med bay. 

‘I’ve got a check-up,’ he said. ‘You should come along too, get your head looked at.’ She hesitated. ‘C’mon, Jane. Pretty sure you’re going to quit this joint as soon as you can. Might as well take advantage of the health insurance while you’ve got it. SHIELD might be SHIELD, but doctors are doctors. They just want to make sure you’re OK.’

‘Oh all right,’ she grumbled. Her bruises were getting better, but she had a hell of a headache. She didn’t fancy a SHIELD therapist though. She didn’t want to focus on the lingering sound of Loki’s laugh or blue glow of the Tesseract behind her eyelids.

‘Should I come?’ asked Thor.

Jane hesitated. He was sweet. Really sweet. And somehow she felt like she’d known him forever. But her injuries were done by Loki. His brother. She didn’t exactly feel up to talking about the details and showing off her bruises right in front of him.

‘No, it’s good. You go and… punch Captain America, I guess. I’ll come find you.’

He bowed and kissed her hand. She followed Barton - and Natasha - out the canteen.

‘How’s the head?’ asked Barton once they got clear.

‘Kinda hurts,’ said Jane.

‘Nat gives good concussions,’ he said. ‘You should be thrilled. Some of the new kids line up to get punched by her.’

‘Funny,’ said Natasha sarcastically, although Jane thought she looked pleased.

‘How’s the inside of the head?’ asked Barton then.

Jane hesitated. ‘Messy,’ she said at last. ‘You?’

‘Same. And kinda empty. Weirdly light and lonely. You got used to the pressure.’

‘Yeah, but also… full. Of thoughts.’

‘Yeah,’ he agreed, tone dark.

In the med bay, Jane allowed herself to be physically checked over. They’d done a full workup the previous day. It had been the first thing before she’d been escorted away to be interrogated for endless hours and then rescued by Thor. Physically there was nothing she wouldn’t heal from. Bruises and cuts, tiredness, not much else. Even her shoulder, which had been fixed by the alien who’d caused the dislocation in the first place, was fine. In a couple of weeks she’d be totally well again, like nothing had ever even happened.

That was the theory, anyway.

The doctor offered her a referral to a shrink, and when Jane refused, pointed out that if she wanted to continue working for SHIELD she would need a psych eval. At least the doctor was compassionate about it though, saying she had no wish to force the issue so soon, that Jane bit back her honest response and just vaguely agreed to something in the future.

She had only just finished getting dressed, lacing the cheap, government issue running shoes, when-

‘Dr Foster.’

Jumping, Jane looked up. Then narrowed her eyes. ‘No.’

‘We need to finish our debrief.’ It was the senior agent from the previous day’s interrogation, with a couple of lackeys. She couldn’t remember his name. He was pale and old and cold and he’d picked apart everything she said until her words didn’t sound like English any more.

‘Absolutely not.’ Had Barton called him? Was Fury watching her?

He stepped forward. Jane jumped to her feet and moved behind the chair she’d been sitting on, holding the back in her hands. She could throw it. She could run. She could scream. None of that mattered in the middle of a SHIELD base surrounded by SHIELD agents. She should never have left Thor.

‘Your aggressive response and paranoia are noted,’ said the agent crisply. ‘So far your narrative has consisted of your fully admitting you designed and built a device which you then used to open numerous portals and allow an alien invasion. Then you insist you are on our side. Perhaps you should calm down and try to have a less irrational and emotional response to simple questions if you wish to convince anyone of that.’

‘I have told you everything,’ Jane spat out as calmly as she could. She was going to throw the chair at his head if he kept talking. She sucked in a breath and tried to even her voice. ‘I’ve really told you everything-’

‘You certainly left out a good deal of detail about the workings of your device-’

‘Because you don’t need to know! Nobody needs to know! The Tesseract is going back to Asgard, and- why do you look like that?’

‘The Tesseract is SHIELD’s property. It won’t be-’ He broke off suddenly.

It took a moment for Jane to realise why. There was a small red dot on the front of his uniform. She stared. Eventually her brain caught up with her and she turned to see Natasha Romanoff leaning against the door of a supply closet (and _how_ she’d gotten there Jane wasn’t even sure), holding a laser pointer. Jane felt a sudden rush of relief and affection for Natasha that she hadn’t even known she’d possessed. 

‘Agent Morris, I read your report,’ Natasha said. ‘It seemed fairly complete. Can’t imagine what final details you’re chasing up.’

‘He’s so thorough.’ Barton’s voice came from behind the agent - Morris. ‘What a good guy. Just what SHIELD needs in a time like this. Someone to dot every “i” and cross every “t”.’

‘Are you quite finished?’ demanded Morris. His eyes bulged with incredulity and, perhaps, a little carefully masked fear.

‘Have you got any questions for Dr Foster your report hasn’t already covered?’ asked Natasha. She smiled dangerously. ‘Remember, I’ve read it.’ Her voice was like honey and yet somehow _Black Widow_ suddenly seemed like a very appropriate code name.

‘If you’re happy to let the fate of the world rest on the _alleged_ brainwashing-’

Barton moved quicker than Jane thought possible, until he was right next to Morris. ‘Alleged?’ he asked quietly. ‘Perhaps there’s more than one person here you ought to be debriefing, Agent Morris. Perhaps my report is _alleged_ too. Not sure what Director Fury’s going to think if both Doc F and I resign because we don’t like your face, though.’

Morris finally seemed to sag, defeated, and Jane let out a breath as he turned tail with fury in his eyes.

‘Asshole,’ muttered Barton, after he was out of earshot.

‘He’s getting too many ideas about things,’ said Natasha, still watching the door he’d left through. ‘I’m going to go talk to Hill. She should know.’ She glanced over at Barton with a sly smile. ‘Don’t resign on me now.’ He rolled his eyes at her back as she left.

‘He’s going to be back, isn’t he?’ muttered Jane with despair.

‘Director Fury’ll rein him in for now,’ said Barton. ‘Besides, you’re going to get out of SHIELD tomorrow, so that’ll get you out of his clutches without special intervention or some sort of warrant. Fury’s all right: he’s not going to hound you to death.’ 

It was the second time he’d referenced her quitting and Jane looked over at him with a slight scowl. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. She just didn’t like being read so easily.

‘C’mon, Doc,’ said Barton, with half a smile. ‘You’d have left months ago if not for the cube. Now it’s going back to space. Don’t think we don’t know this stuff.’

‘I hate spies,’ she grumbled. ‘Besides, he’ll hardly be the last person who doesn’t believe me. Or believe us.’

At that, Barton paused, then nodded. ‘Yeah. You’re not wrong. As stories go, it’s hard to swallow. Hypnotism’s not that hardcore, people’ll say. I’m lucky, I’ve got Nat, and my family. You gonna be OK?’

She thought of Thor - so patient and steady and full of trust, but leaving in a day’s time - then of Darcy, who by now was her best friend, Erik, and her mom. Would they believe her? 

‘I hope so,’ she mumbled at last.

‘Well… call me if you need me,’ he said. ‘Any time. Any reason. And if it goes to voicemail I’ll ring you back when I’m out of trouble.’

‘Yeah, same, I think,’ she said. ‘I’m not much good at people, but…’ She trailed off. Exactly what having her mind twisted and warped felt like was something she was still trying to figure out how to explain to anyone, but Barton got it. She didn’t want to lose that understanding.

‘Yeah,’ he said. He nudged her arm gently and she found herself giving him a tiny smile. ‘We’ll be all right, Doc.’

‘Yeah,’ she echoed. ‘Hope so.’

~*~

Thor and the others found that the training grounds of the base were largely empty. That seemed surprising, until Steve pointed out that most of the SHIELD staff had duties: rebuilding New York had begun, and SHIELD were to be the first on the ground.

‘Should we offer our help?’ said Thor, with a frown.

‘I asked Fury,’ said Steve. ‘He said we probably deserved a couple of days R&R, but I’m pretty sure that was code for him wanting us all on base and under control. I’ve promised to behave for a couple of days, since, you know- Loki’s here. But after that I’m going on vacation. Media’s kicking up a storm about “the Avengers” though. Stark’s already done an interview that amounted to “you’re welcome”, which is…’ He trailed off, distaste writ across his features. 

On Asgard, Thor would be a public face, leading the clean up, speaking to the wounded, reassuring his people. On Asgard he suspected he would have taken Stark’s approach: reminding the people of his and his allies’ strength in times of danger. On Midgard he had to trust that Fury was choosing correctly. No doubt he would not be such a reassuring figure here; he had no status or trusted history, just a few old tales and a murderous brother.

Steve showed him the training rooms and he tested the strength of the walls in an unobtrusive corner before they began to fight. Once they did, he remembered how good it was to do battle for the joy of it.

He could throw off the weight on his mind - his brother, seeing Jane so injured, and the knowledge that once again he would be leaving her too quickly - and focus on the patterns of the fight. Steve was not strong, but he was fast, and had a certain grace that unexpectedly resulted in brutal strikes. He had realised that with Thor and the Asgardians he did not need to hold back, unlike his opponents, and he leveraged that knowledge. He also did well to not telegraph his attacks. Thor knew how to attack cautiously, and was quickly learning that to be on Midgard necessitated restraint at all moments, but the dance was _fun_. Even if he most definitely gave his new friend one or two new bruises to add to the collection.

During one particularly exciting bout, himself fighting Steve, Volstagg and Hogun, Thor looked up from the floor to see Jane had returned. She was sitting at the edge of the room, talking to Sif and Fandral. He felt a smile spread across his face at the sight of her. She was beautiful. He loved her. He ought to tell her-

Hogun swiped his legs and sent him toppling, and Volstagg sat upon him, while Steve bent double laughing as Thor glared up at them.

‘Oh, well fought,’ he grumbled. ‘Get off me!’ He hoped Jane had not seen, for she was deep in conversation with Sif. It was too much to hope that Fandral had not, and no doubt Sif would soon be told. He pushed upwards and sent Volstagg flying, forcing Hogun and Steve to yelp and duck away.

‘Not that I’ve never been distracted in a fight before myself,’ admitted Steve, as he appeared over Thor and offered a hand. Thor allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and grinned self-deprecatingly at his new friend. ‘Take it this means you’re off?’

‘Possibly,’ said Thor, slightly unwilling to concede the true answer to that question: he would go wherever Jane wanted.

He approached the other three. Fandral opened his mouth but by some miracle - or possibly the threat in Thor’s eyes - restrained himself and shut it once more. Sif was talking about Heimdall and the Bifrost. Jane was staring at her, clearly enthralled. Sif looked to be on the verge of the panicked refusal that had so characterised her schoolwork where any hint of deep magic had been involved. Thor suppressed his amusement at Sif’s fate. He had been no scholar, had never a hope of understanding the universe as Jane wished to, but he enjoyed learning of such magics and the stories that surrounded them more than was expected of him, and certainly more than Sif and the Warriors. As he approached, Sif shot him a look that clearly pled for a rescue, and he was more than willing to supply.

‘Yggdrasil itself was not created by us,’ he said to Jane, cutting in as eloquently as he could. She turned to look up at him, eyes widening hopefully. ‘We believe it to be natural. There are some creation myths of our own I could tell you, told to me by my parents and sometimes by Heimdall, should you wish?’

‘Yes, you’ve spent a lot of time with my brother lately,’ said Sif. Her tone implied many things, but Thor chose not to let himself be drawn in.

‘Would you care to…?’ He asked Jane before he realised he knew not what to ask. Walk, perhaps, though there was precious little to see in the base. Exercise facilities, scrubby recreational areas, further kitchens, and endless blank corridors and operations rooms. They were in a working building. It was frustrating. On Asgard he would know exactly how to court someone: where he could take them and what he could show them and how he could impress them. On Midgard he was wearing borrowed clothes, in an ugly building. But-

‘Yeah, let’s,’ agreed Jane, apparently unperturbed by his unfinished offer. She rose to her feet. ‘Do you think we can go for a walk? Outside, I mean. This place is getting to me. SHIELD bases are so faceless.’

Thor hesitated momentarily. ‘It sounds as though Fury hopes I will remain inside.’ In his head he worked through eventualities. He would not have been seen closely by any of Midgard’s journalists in the battle, so surely he could expect to escape notice if he did not wear his armour. He could hardly be the only man with light hair and a beard on Midgard.

‘Is Loki contained?’ she asked bluntly, her features set.

Thor nodded. ‘He cannot move Mjolnir, and he is otherwise restrained too. And if I interpreted his anger correctly when I spoke with him, your… act to stop the Tesseract drained his magic for a number of days.’

‘OK, so, safe.’ She took a breath and nodded as if to herself, and then looked up at him with something of a smile. ‘You remember how we broke you into and out of a SHIELD base in New Mexico? Do you want to do it again, but in reverse?’

Thor felt a grin spread across her face. She was remarkable.

~*~

They ended up in a place called Brooklyn Park. It was not far from the SHIELD base - which was hidden from the public - and it overlooked a number of small islands in one direction, one with a sculpture of green woman, and Manhattan in the other. At first, Thor was uncertain, but something in the set of Jane’s shoulders made him trust her. If she wished to see the city, then they would go.

Most of the park was very quiet. Perhaps that was to be expected. The view over Manhattan however had many more people: watching, some photographing, talking in hushed tones. Thor had acquired a blue hooded jacket and tan coloured pants from Steve before they’d left, and Jane had sourced clothes from Natasha, so they were not conspicuous, moving amongst the group. Thor heard the strangers speak of fear and hope and the fight. Some talked of loved ones they struggled to contact. Some of their worries for their work in the buildings of Manhattan. They seemed to trust the Avengers, though the reassurance that the battle was won did not seem universally believed. Thor wanted to push down his hood and speak with them, tell them that they were protected, and that the Chitauri would not return. For Jane, for Nick Fury, he resisted, staying silent and inconspicuous, just another man in the crowd.

At last, Jane settled in a spot further from the main crowd where they could not be overheard. She sat on the grass, and he beside her. She’d hardly torn her eyes from the city. Much of the damage could not be seen from where they were, but some broken buildings were clearly visible, uneven scars against the shining grey blocks.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked her, at last.

‘I… am feeling a lot of things. In my head. It’s like, my brain is always busy at the best of times, like there’s eighty-four tabs open in a browser. But usually all eighty-four are working. Now I’m…’ She broke off and shook her head. ‘That comparison probably didn’t mean anything to you.’ 

‘Not really, but I understood the intent of your words.’

She nodded shortly, before turning back to the city across the water. ‘Right now I’m angry,’ she said, in a tight voice. ‘People died. Things got destroyed. My brain just rolled over and did as it was told and because of that people died. We nearly got nuked for no goddamn reason so I am definitely quitting SHIELD. He- I mean- this- I’m sorry, I- but he did-’

Thor’s heart broke as he realised what she was struggling to articulate. ‘Jane, do not spare your anger on my account.’

She swallowed. ‘I hate him. For what he did. To me. To the world. It’s burning in me. I can’t get rid of it. I should have stabbed him with the sceptre on the tower before you even got there. And I don’t like thinking that.’

‘Why not?’

At that, Jane turned to look at him with incredulity. ‘It’s not normal to want to stab people!’ she said. ‘Oh jesus, or maybe it is in some alien Viking land, but I’m not a- I haven’t- I’ve shouted at people and slapped a couple of guys and once I punched someone but I don’t… do that.’

Thor considered her words. ‘I would not typically kill someone in cold blood,’ he began cautiously. This was _definitely_ not his usual approach to courting.

‘Oh, jesus, sorry, I didn’t mean-’ She shook her head.

He extended a hand to her, which she took. ‘Peace, Jane, you have nothing to apologise for. I think my realm does hold violence differently to yours. We do compared to many others,’ he added, as a concession, ‘so it is no surprise. I have stabbed and been stabbed by my brother numerous times, even before his betrayal. It does not even feel worth remarking upon. If you wish to, I’ll bring you before him myself and give you a knife. But my question was poorly worded. I simply meant: to wish revenge, in anger, the day after… there is no shame. Be angry if you wish. You have a thousand reasons to be, and to feel hatred toward him. I cannot plead for your clemency, for he deserves it not.’

At that, she laughed, although slightly helplessly. ‘Oh god, sometimes talking to you is like… something else. Nobody has ever told me to be angry before. Kinda the opposite.’ Her voice was affectionate, so he felt a rush of relief, for all that her words seemed strange to him.

‘Anger is useful when channeled effectively,’ he said. ‘For that I would recommend learning to fight. I do not see why you should not feel anger today, nor why you should be guilty for it. Give yourself time to heal. You cannot hold onto it forever: you would not wish for it to eat at you or to harm you, nor should you nurse it so much you lose all sight of yourself. For now, though…’ He shrugged. And then he gave her a small, wry smile. ‘Though I cannot pretend I have never overstepped that line, so perhaps my advice is unwise.’

‘I remember, the whole Jotunheim thing,’ said Jane. She leaned into his shoulder, and in doing so warmed his heart. ‘But you’re a bit more chilled out now, than when we first met. No more taser required.’ She turned to him then. ‘Are you OK? I’ve been… kinda wrapped up in me.’

He ran his thumb across her fingers as he considered his answer. There was much he could say, but was not sure would be fair to her.

‘Hey-’ She pulled at his hand and he looked up and into her eyes. ‘No sugarcoating. Don’t - what was it? - spare your anger, or lack thereof, on my account.’

He felt himself smile. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted at last. ‘A brotherhood of more than a thousand of your years should be impossible to forget. It seems that he has already forgotten it though, so perhaps so should I. And truthfully I too would gladly run him through with his own sceptre at the moment, but as I mentioned, that would not necessarily be remarkable of itself.’

That received a tiny smile in return. Then she leaned back to lie on the grass, pulling at his arm for him to follow. At last the towers of Manhattan were dragged from their view. He managed to slip an arm around her, pulling her into him, and she went easily, leaning her head against his chest.

‘Your heartbeat is very slow,’ she said, after a moment’s silence. She shifted so she could look at him. It meant she was now half on top of him, at which he had nothing to complain about. In fact, he suddenly began to feel rather warm. ‘Is that normal for an Asgardian?’

He nodded and touched her hand gently, where he could feel her pulse fluttering beneath her skin, which made him fret at how thin and delicate it must be compared to his own. ‘Yours is very fast,’ he observed. He’d noticed before, but it was an excuse to touch her, and he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss it gently.

‘Uh,’ she said, and there was a splash of pink to her cheeks that had not been there a moment ago. ‘Keep doing that and it’s going to get even faster,’ she said, with a sudden smile that held hidden promise. 

Thor did not need the suggestion to be made twice. He kissed her knuckles delicately, one by one. He suspected her smile and her laugh had made his own heart leap.

‘God, you are like, something else,’ she said at last.

By her tone it was clearly positive, but before he could respond in kind, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his once more, and then nothing else mattered. It was not so hurried and desperate as their last (first) kiss, for it was not yet a goodbye. Instead it was sweet and soft and warm and all the better for the months he’d waited, thinking of her, and the dreams he’d had of this moment. One of his hands still held hers, and with the other he wrapped it around her back to hold her to him, since she showed no inclination to leave. 

When she pulled back, her eyes dropped to his lips. He realised he was smiling again; there was something about Jane that made him wish to do little else.

‘Gotta admit, I sort of pictured this being less complicated, and also not in a public park, while we’re probably being spied on my some SHIELD agents to make sure we don’t cause trouble.’

Her thoughts delightfully echoed his own. That she too had pictured this was beyond all he could have wished for. Part of him was tempted to suggest they returned to the privacy of his rooms in the base, but it seemed too hurried, not when just to hold her in his arms felt like a dream. He released her hand and reached up to cup her face, and she leaned into his touch, her eyes fluttering shut.

‘Jane, before… there was something I wished to say to you,’ he said, voice low.

‘Before…?’ She had a slight frown.

‘When I saw you again, I realised, though I suppose I must have felt so for a while.’

‘You did?’ Her voice seemed suddenly a little breathless to him, although he thought so did his own.

‘Ever since we sat under the stars,’ he said, because he was confident that was the moment. ‘Jane-’

She kissed him again. He kissed back. He was briefly surprised when she opened her mouth against his - they were remarkably public - and then wriggled against him until she was entirely on top of him instead of merely partially. Deferring to Jane in matters of acceptable public behaviour, and honestly deciding he didn’t care in the slightest, he held onto her as if his life depended upon it. Her hand wrapped through his hair and gripped him tightly, in a way that sent a thrill through him.

Again, it was Jane who pulled back, licking her lips, cheeks stained pink once more. ‘Right, um, public park,’ she said. 

For a moment he watched her breathe. Something monumental felt as though it had happened, and yet…

‘You interrupted me,’ he said.

‘Did I?’ She frowned, and it seemed to take her a moment. ‘I did. Do that. Yes.’ He felt the way she shifted awkwardly and could not help but laugh happily at the way her eyes widened in guilt. She swatted his arm. ‘Shut up.’

‘Jane, I love you,’ he said, ignoring her directive entirely.

Somehow, she still seemed surprised. Her eyes widened once more and her mouth formed a perfect circle. ‘Oh,’ she said.

His stomach lurched because he’d wanted her to reply in kind, but he hadn’t expected her to. She’d seen too much, been through too much, and - this he’d learned over many long centuries - few were quite so impulsive with their feelings as he. He curled his fingers in her hair, stroked her cheek with his thumb. ‘More than anything. More than sense and reason dictate. I know we once again find time our enemy, and I must return home for there’ll be wars for me to fight, but with your permission, I should like to return when they are done, to give you the time you deserve.’

‘Oh,’ she said again. Then she swallowed and ducked her gaze. ‘Just, like, give me a minute. There’s a lot in my brain.’ 

It was towards him she leaned, not away, arranging herself against his shoulder, her arm resting upon his chest. Thor looked up at the clouds and hoped, and her weight beside him made him warm. He would not presume anything, but he did think that much of what he felt, she felt too.

‘Yes I would like you to come back,’ she said at last, into his t shirt. ‘And there is… more, to talk about. But now is… a lot. In my head.’ Thor kissed the top of her head. He wished the edge of sadness in her voice was not there, felt a rush of anger towards his brother that it should be. ‘Will you tell me how you guys think Yggdrasil was formed?’ she asked at last, and he smiled.

‘Would you prefer my mother’s story, my father’s, or Heimdall’s?’

‘Which is the most scientifically accurate?’

At that he laughed. ‘Pin not your hopes on accuracy, Jane,’ he said. ‘That is not the purpose of the tales.’

She made a small huffing noise, but when she spoke there was a laugh in her voice. ‘All right then, your mom’s version first.’


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to [Niobium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for betaing!

They stayed in the park for a while. Thor told her stories and myths from Asgard, and a few of his childhood scrapes and adventures, and Jane felt she could have listened to him forever. But he had questions too, and she explained relativity to him (insofar as humans understood it), and told him what a Nobel prize was, and somehow how she’d used to play piano but didn’t any more but music was like math and wasn’t that great? And he quietly but unselfconsciously sang her a couple of verses from some Asgardian ballad and it was honestly the most precious and incredible thing in the universe and for a moment she thought she was going to burst for happiness.

In her mind, throughout all of this, a dark cloud lurked threateningly. Thor was pretty good at making dark clouds go away though, after all, so she ignored it. She focused on him and his stories and the steady way he held her, and the way he made her feel like a giggling teenager the entire time. For now, it was enough.

They had lunch at a Jewish deli a few blocks from the park, and she tried to explain Judaism to him without going too far into the details of how hard it was to keep kosher when living on SHIELD bases because that just sounded like whining. She was certain that morning’s breakfast had been cooked on the same stove as the bacon and sausages but she’d been really hungry. Thor somehow already knew the basics, because he’d been to Earth when he was younger and the Vikings had traded with _everyone_. Apparently the introduction of a Norse God in the flesh hadn’t been too off-putting for the medieval Jewish traders, which was comforting, in its own weird way.

After lunch they wandered further. Brooklyn was intact following the attack. She hadn’t really appreciated just how well the Avengers had kept it contained. Despite that, the streets were unsurprisingly empty in many places and then filled with quiet, thoughtful clusters in others. Strangers spoke to each other in a way she was pretty sure wasn’t normal. She and Thor ducked their gazes, but in all honesty she suspected there was little to notice in a big, blond guy wearing a hoodie. Even when he projected an air of fundamental alienness, she thought she was ordinary enough to anchor him to Earth.

She introduced him to Starbucks because, well, Earth experiences. She bought him a copy of the first Harry Potter book and _A Brief History of Time_ to take back to Asgard and extracted a promise that he’d read them both. When she told him _Harry Potter_ was about wizards and stuff that didn’t exist, he grinned and asked how he’d be able to tell. She kinda liked that he was giving her shit for things.

After that, they found a local history museum and Jane was surprised once again that things were still open and carrying on as normally as possible. Thor had a lot of questions in the museum. Her phone battery was utterly dead by that point, so she had to admit ignorance and get help. The staff found their enthusiastic guest a bit strange, given, well, Manhattan, but they did their best. Jane was beginning to realise that Thor was a nerd. She’d had a suspicion, the way he talked on the rooftop in Puente Antiguo. She was pretty much in raptures about having it confirmed, although she did her best to look like a rational adult and not beam at him and fall over her feet because of that more than about once an hour. 

For dinner, she took him to a Mexican restaurant and they had cocktails and burritos and Thor very cutely copied her order because she said it was good, even though it was vegetarian. Jane reflected, for the millionth time that day, the fact that she found everything he did unreasonably adorable was probably on her. Especially because he got sweet potato and beans all over his beard and it wasn’t even all that unattractive. In fact, it was sweet. That was definitely her.

As they ate, she felt a tightness coil in her stomach. Nerves? Anticipation? They still technically had only one bedroom between them on the base, and she didn’t really want another. She was almost definitely completely sure that she was going to jump him, complications and feelings and bruises and dark clouds be damned. It was just, well, _a lot_. And the stakes felt high.

Her usual approach to getting sex was just to ask guys if they wanted to bang. It was to the point and saved a lot of time that would otherwise be spent by her trying to decode the endless signals people sent each other. She wasn't very good at them. So "want to have sex?" it was. She also knew that with American men, her odds were fairly good that the answer would be yes. (Less good were her odds of getting off, but she usually got some fun out of the experience.) She just wasn't sure how to apply this to Thor. The most sensible thing seemed to be to stick with her usual approach. She was pretty sure he'd be down for it. It was just, she really, really liked him. If it came down to it, she'd rather not have sex yet than mess this up.

At the SHIELD base, they let themselves in by the same way they’d got out: Thor helping her climb the wall and basically carrying her over the barbed wire.

Somehow, Fury was waiting inside. Jane was instantly transported back to sneaking out for dates in high school.

‘You know there’s a door,’ he said flatly.

Thor caught Jane’s eye. He had his lips pressed together in suppressed laughter that nearly had her going out of sheer nerves. ‘Is there?’ he said, a moment later. ‘Our sincerest apologies. No damage was done. I reshaped the wire after we crossed.’

‘You’re leaving tomorrow,’ said Fury. It wasn’t a question. ‘Are you all prepared?’

‘Certainly. Your hospitality has been most gratefully received,’ said Thor. ‘The Tesseract will enable us to go.’

He seemed to have recovered some of his poise, but as soon as they escaped Fury and ducked into the endless corridors, he was back to suppressed giggles.

‘What?’ asked Jane, because he was definitely going to set her off.

‘It’s just…’ He paused and laughed properly. ‘My father, he has lost an eye too… and for a moment, I felt-’

‘-Like a kid in school,’ finished Jane, starting to giggle herself. ‘God, we really should have used the door.’

‘Absolutely not,’ said Thor firmly. ‘We’d have had an argument about whether we could leave and strict instructions about what we could or could not do. I’ll not be imprisoned by mere walls.’ 

There were moments when Thor seemed ageless and endless, an alien god amongst men, wiser and older than she could dream. This was not such a moment. Now he looked at her with laughter in his eyes, pointlessly defiant, with dirt on his hands and rips in his t shirt and hair falling over his face, like every boyfriend her mom or dad had ever disapproved of. She loved him.

_Shit._

It was too much, too soon, and they didn’t have long enough. It didn’t matter that he’d said- 

She kissed him, because it was easy and natural and they were almost at his room and it was _so much less complicated_ than any alternative. 

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, and she took that as a sign to wrap her legs around him. As he fumbled for the door, he - if she was any judge - damn near wrenched the handle off. She laughed breathlessly into his mouth and he muttered what had to be a curse that she couldn’t quite hear, before successfully opening the door and carrying her in. 

If kissing him was easy, it was somehow easier still to keep going, winding her hands through his hair and then pulling at his shirt. Thor got the hint. He deposited her gently on the bed and peeled his t shirt over his head, pausing to smile down at her for just long enough to give her a chance to appreciate the view. When her eyes met his again, there was a certain smugness in his gaze.

‘Just get down here,’ she told him with a huff. His grin broadened at her insistence and he joined her on the bed without any further hesitation, pulling her into his arms again. She went, hoping as she did that he would be slightly better at this than men who knew exactly how attractive they were often turned out to be.

~*~

As it turned out, she really didn’t have to worry about that.

~*~

Thor enjoyed resting with Jane in his arms even more when they were both unclothed, he decided to himself, in the early hours of the morning, smiling at her as she slept. Her skin was cooler than his, and softer, and even in sleep she seemed to lean into his touch. 

The previous day had been more wonderful than he’d ever dreamed. 

He was not naive enough to believe that either of their happiness was permanent. He had buried deep all thoughts of his brother’s betrayal and Jane’s injuries. Even when faced with the bruises on her body - still not faded, more than a day later - he had thought not of Loki but of Jane’s bravery and strength and how beautiful that made her. And he knew she too was pushing down her own fear and anger and pain, allowing him to distract her, allowing them to have fun. He knew that when he left, they would both of them have fears to face. 

Still, he also knew that distractions helped heal, and that in the face of having his own heart and mind stolen, the love and unquestioning faith from his family and friends had made him feel whole again. It was perhaps arrogant to hope he could help Jane like that, especially when he would soon be leaving her, but hope he did. To simply be allowed to distract her and receive just some of her happiness was wonderful.

He had not expected her to invite him to bed. It was very soon. But then, Midgardians did everything quickly, and he certainly did not mind. He’d had to be cautious, but not perhaps as cautious as he’d expected he would have to. Jane had met his embraces with a lot of energy and joy and held him as if he were the last man in all the realms. They had not found sleep for a long time. He grinned again. He had been rather unlucky in love in the years before he met Jane - too focused on his quest for the throne - and he’d near forgotten how much fun it was to spend time with someone for the sheer pleasure of their company.

Now, though, she slept and he could not help but count down the minutes until they would be parted. Midgardians needed their sleep, but he wished they didn’t. She fidgeted against him and he ran a hand through her hair, and then down her back. It was not so bad, though, to lie there in her company, even if he could not make himself sleep too. He had rested many hours the previous night with her, and managed a couple more earlier that night. It would be another day or two before he could even hope to sleep again. So instead he daydreamed of his return to Midgard: of seeing Jane again and seeing the realm with her; of learning how to cook burritos and make coffee himself; of reading more of their tales and stories while she worked; and of joining her in her bed once again. A presumptuous daydream, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.

The small clock beside the bed read “06:37” in its red, square numbers when there was a knocking upon the door of the room. Thor frowned: he had not expected a summons this early.

Try as he might to extract himself carefully from Jane’s arms, his movement combined with the noise of the knocking roused her. She frowned and made an endearing grumble of confusion, squinting a him vaguely.

‘I do not know, but I should answer it,’ he said. ‘It is possible there is some trouble.’

‘Well, don’t forget to put on some pants,’ said Jane. She had pulled the bed blankets around herself to protect her modesty. He snickered and quickly pulled on the pants that he had so hurriedly discarded the previous day.

The knocking was a young SHIELD security guard - barely out of boyhood yet carrying a large gun. Behind him were Darcy and Erik. The guard’s face turned red and Thor suppressed a smile. Either the young man was incredibly naive, or he was at the mercy of some prank or trick and had not been told to expect Thor.

‘Oh!’ He heard Jane’s surprise. ‘Wait, hang on, shut the door. I need to-’

‘Sorry, boss!’ said Darcy. She grinned at Thor without embarrassment. ‘If the guys on the gate had said we might have been interrupting something important, we’d have waited.’ She winked. Erik was frowning slightly.

Thor stepped out and shut the door behind him to give Jane a moment’s privacy. ‘It is good to see you both again,’ he said evenly.

Darcy shooed the guard away. ‘We got this, bud,’ she said. ‘Go and tell your friends how sexy aliens are with their shirts off.’

‘Darcy-’ said Erik.

‘Ugh, don’t “dad” me,’ said Darcy to Erik. ‘What the hell happened?’ she demanded of Thor. ‘I was having dinner with my parents and I basically got kidnapped by SHIELD and taken to some facility in god-knows-where. Europe, if the jetlag is anything to go by. And _then_ I get back and New York’s a mess and apparently it’s your jackass brother? What the hell, dude.’

Thor felt a tightness in his chest, and the sudden weight of the conversation hit him. If he could not make Darcy and Erik understand that this was not Jane’s fault- and he had surely only moments- ‘You were informed correctly,’ he said. ‘My brother obtained an army and instigated an attack on this realm. He took Jane and stole control of her mind. Brainwashed her,’ he added, remembering the word the Midgardians had used on a few occasions. ‘He used her work to bring his army here. She did her best to fight and severely damaged his plans. Without her we would have struggled to close the doorways. But she could not entirely win. The portals that brought the soldiers here were built at her hand, commanded by my brother, for all that she never stopped fighting for a moment.’

Darcy stared at him, face paled somewhat, and then exchanged a glance with Erik. ‘Shit,’ she said. She leaned around Thor and knocked on the door again. ‘Are you OK, Jane?’ she called.

A moment later, Jane answered the door, now dressed once more in the dark-coloured SHIELD clothes. She stared at Darcy. ‘I- when did you get here?’

Darcy hugged her. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked again. Thor felt a rush of relief at the steadiness in her voice.

Jane rather suddenly began to cry.

‘Come on, you,’ said Darcy, patting her back. ‘Thor says you basically saved the world with your brain. Let’s go get some nasty-ass SHIELD coffee from the canteen and you can tell me who I need to taze to get back at them.’ She pulled back, looped her arm with Jane’s, and led her away, gesturing as she did for the other two to give them space. 

Trusting Darcy, Thor went back inside his room and began to collect his armour with a heavy heart. 

‘You should have left when I told you too,’ said Erik, at the doorway. ‘It would have spared her this.’

The words were like ice, and then the following silence hung uncomfortably in the air. Thor looked over at Erik. He could not say he blamed the man for that feeling, but he had to admit to himself that he was not entirely certain how to deal with disapproval from the parents of those he loved. He was more used to his own parents doing the disapproving, and by now he knew what to say to them.

‘Perhaps,’ he admitted slowly. He thought it would be better to face it head-on. He could not control his brother. He could not control Jane. He certainly could not control the steady pace of time and destiny. ‘But if I had I might still be wandering your desert, and my brother might have killed millions more on Jotunheim. Or nothing might have changed. Jane’s work might still have eventually brought her to SHIELD without me. My brother might still eventually have sought to rule this world.’

‘So that’s it?’ said Erik. ‘So easy.’

‘No, not so easy,’ replied Thor instantly, feeling his temper rise, dark clouds bubbling over in the sky. He stopped. He took a breath. It was unfair to Erik. ‘There is much I could have done differently in my life,’ he said at last. ‘Much I am to blame for. But Loki and I too easily hold each other to account for our own actions and of that I am tired. My brother made his choice to do this, just as I made my choice to first attack Jotunheim and then to save it.’

‘And what does that mean for Jane? What about the danger to her?’

‘She ran into danger the first time we met. I cannot change that. Instead I will stay or go as she pleases.’ He considered that statement for a moment. ‘Although today I will go regardless of what either of us might wish, for I must escort my brother home.’

Erik made a disapproving grunt.

‘I am sorry,’ said Thor at last. ‘I know you look upon her as a daughter. I know you love her and wish to see her safe, and I do not live a life of safety. But I promise you that to me, her happiness is the most important thing. I will not take her control from her or make decisions for her. Not now. Not ever.’

~*~

Darcy made Jane blow her nose and wipe her eyes, and then she gave her coffee and asked her how the sex was.

‘Darcy-!’ said Jane, with a laugh through her tears.

‘What? The people need to know.’ She gestured for Jane to talk. ‘Spill.’

‘Um. Pretty amazing,’ said Jane, with a watery smile. She both did and didn’t want to tell the universe.

‘Good,’ said Darcy, ‘if lacking in the details. I’d hate to think you pined for a year only to find he’s done in, like, three seconds; or he thinks a forty-five minute blow job is compulsory; or you have to ask if it’s in yet; or-’

‘Oh my god, Darcy!’ It was hard not to laugh again. Darcy grinned at Jane. 

‘When we get out of this hellhole, I’m gonna get you so drunk you can’t stand, and then you’re gonna tell me all the glorious details,’ she said cheerfully.

‘Shut up,’ said Jane. She wiped her eyes. ‘If you dragged me here just to ask about sex I’m going back to bed,’ she added.

‘That’s the spirit,’ said Darcy. She put an arm around Jane’s shoulder. ‘Want to talk about the shitty stuff yet? Or if not, you can tell me how big his-’

‘ _DARCY_.’

Darcy snickered unrepentantly.

Despite everything, she gave Darcy a brief and somewhat wobbly summary of the last couple of days, because she felt she really had to. 

She’d finished up, and Darcy was trying to coax more details out of her about the previous day - whether in bed or out of it - when Thor and Erik appeared. Erik was frowning. Thor was in his armour. He looked good, as always, but the sight nearly made her want to cry all over again.

He was leaving. Again. He was really leaving. She’d been trying to ignore that, but it was impossible with him dressed and ready to go.

‘When will you be back?’ she asked urgently.

He sat beside her and took both of her hands. ‘I do not know,’ he said. ‘The Bifrost must be mended, and then I must go to war.’ He paused and smiled sadly at her. ‘I promised Hogun I would fight to free Vanaheim, as he has fought for Asgard many times. I cannot break that promise.’

‘I know,’ she said quietly. ‘I just- Thor I need to know if you’re talking one year, five years, or thirty years. There’s… a lot of difference. I don’t mind waiting for… a while.’ _But I can’t wait forever._ It was funny how hard it was to say that, however true it was.

‘I… do not know how long is too long, on Midgard,’ he admitted, with a lopsided grimace. 

‘And I don’t really know how long things take on Asgard,’ said Jane, shrugging helplessly. They both sort-of smiled at each other for a moment, in mutual uncertainty.

‘Honestly, like, a year is pushing it,’ said Darcy, to Thor, making Jane jump. ‘You guys have spent, like, a weekend together.’

‘Darcy!’ said Jane, for what felt like the millionth time that morning.

‘What? You guys were gonna just stare at each other all morning. Now it’s just a negotiation. A year’s too short? All right, it’s your sex life, or lack thereof. Call if two years. Thank me later.’

Jane felt a sudden hatred for trying to define things in numbers, for possibly the first time in her life. ‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. Everything was too much. She just wanted him to stay.

Thor lifted one hand to his lips to kiss it. ‘Then I ask that, if you are willing, you give me two of your years to return,’ he said. ‘And if you grow tired of waiting before then, I hope you might call up to Heimdall and if I can I will hurry to your side.’

‘Um. Right,’ said Jane. ‘Yeah. OK. I can do that.’

He smiled, touched her cheek, and kissed her softly.

~*~

Mid-morning saw the Avengers re-assembled, this time in Central Park. SHIELD had cordoned off a bunch of space around the park, although central Manhattan was still largely occupied by the emergency services and other clean up crews. It was something out of a disaster movie, but in the back of Jane’s mind lurked the knowledge that it was _her_ disaster. Loki’s hand had held hers in place, maybe, but she still remembered everything she’d done.

She held the Tesseract case tightly, her knuckles white. The cube had started all this, in its own way.

 _You can build a portal,_ it said to her, still. _You can see the universe._ She could. She did. She had done so. The cube itself seemed a little louder, a little warmer and friendlier too. Whatever Loki had done and commanded her to do… it couldn’t take away that she and the Tesseract had held onto each other. She’d brought it into her heart long before the sceptre had taken her mind. She’d given something of herself to it, to understand it. 

Part of her longed to take the cube and run. It was hers, in its own way. She could stop Thor from leaving. She could build her own doorway. She could see everything again. None of that was possible if she gave it away.

But give it away she did. She didn’t even touch it. She gave Thor the means to leave and cursed herself as she did. His sad smile told her he understood well enough. Loki’s smirking eyes behind the gag told her that so did he.

Thor let Sif the the Warriors place the Tesseract in his device - which Jane itched to get her hands on - and approached the Avengers and the others. He gave them a short bow, as a group, gripped the wrist of Steve Rogers. Darcy hugged him, because of course she did. He hugged back, albeit looking slightly surprised. Jane couldn’t help but notice the small bow he gave Erik was tense on both sides.

Then he turned to Jane and took her hands once more. Almost immediately the rest of the world - Avengers, cube, New York city - seemed to fade to irrelevance. His hands on hers, his eyes looking into hers, those were all she could see and feel.

‘I have learned not to promise so rashly that I will return tomorrow, or even the day after,’ he said. ‘But I do promise that I will come back to you.’ He raised one hand to his lips to kiss it. ‘I love you, Jane. Never doubt it.’

She was pretty sure she made a high pitched noise, because even though she was freaking out a little bit, him saying that (again), made things sort of seem better. She grabbed him for another kiss, because if he _still_ somehow thought that a hand kiss was an appropriate goodbye then he had another thing coming. Something in his smile as she pulled him down made her realise he’d known it wasn’t and that she’d do this, though.

She kissed him for as long as she could, and then when he pulled back slightly, she turned it into a hug. His armour wasn’t nearly so comfortable as his t shirts had been, but she still buried her face into his neck as he lifted her off the ground.

‘Thor, I- I think I love you too,’ she mumbled at last, quietly enough that she wasn’t sure he’d even hear, because he was leaving and he’d told her and she couldn’t bear letting him go without at least trying.

It was his turn to make a surprised noise, at least an octave higher than she was used to from him, and he kissed her again. She clutched onto him and tried not to let go until-

‘Jeez, get a room. Pretty sure the SHIELD cordon is only going to hold people back for so long,’ came the voice of Tony Stark. The Tony Stark, billionaire superhero, who was one of _several_ people watching her basically make out with Thor.

She pulled back as Thor set her down on the ground again. He held her gaze for just a few moments longer, eyes smiling and sad all at once. 

‘Stay safe,’ she told him, quietly. ‘And I’d better see you soon.’ She did her best to keep her voice level.

‘You will,’ he said. ‘I promise.’

And then he was gone, stepping back from her, leaving her suddenly cold and alone as she watched him approach his friends and his brother. They linked arms. Thor took one handle of the device containing the cube and then… in a flash of blue light, they were gone.

Jane swallowed back tears. Instead she focussed on breathing.

Darcy came forward and took her arm. ‘There’s a meteor shower coming up next week,’ she said. ‘Right over Barbados. I say we go. Sun, sea, vacation sex for me and meteor showers for you. That’s practically grant-worthy.’

Laughing despite everything, Jane squeezed Darcy’s arm. ‘When you put it like that, how could I say no? Just a couple of things to do before we go, though...’

~*~

Tony wasn’t sure what to feel.

He hadn’t liked the calculating look Loki had bestowed upon his audience, despite his imprisonment, right up until the moment he’d disappeared. He hadn’t liked the way he could swear he’d seen Jane Foster’s eyes glow blue when she’d been holding the Tesseract, even in its case. He didn’t like that his tower - and the city around it - stood in ruins, nor that when he shut his eyes he could see the blackness and the stars and the huge alien craft, bent on their destruction.

He did like Bruce Banner, though, and the other Avengers had sort of grown on him. And he liked that Pepper had managed to get to New York, despite the no-fly zone. And he really liked that they’d won. They’d come up against an alien army and _Earth_ had come out on top. Winning was a hell of a drug. Maybe being a superhero on the world stage - rather than just the corrupt-slash-evil CEO stage - wasn’t so bad.

_Except for the dark and the emptiness and the bomb on his back and the army he’d killed…_

Tony shook his head and instead thought back to his debrief with Fury. It had been his second debrief. His first had been some poor agent trying to get him to hang around and had consisted of him propelling Bruce away. But then that morning Fury had appeared at the Tower (swanning through security, of course) (although “security” at that time was one of DUM-E’s cousins wearing a hat, because all the actual staff had been evacuated and most of the systems were down), ostensibly to tell him the Asgardian delegation were leaving. 

‘ _You did good, Stark,_ ’ had been the first thing he said, complete with a hand on Tony’s shoulder.

Tony’s eight-hundred snappy opening lines about whether or not he’d be invited to join their boyband yet, SHIELD’s approach to nuclear weaponry, Phase Two, Loki’s crap cage, SHIELD’s crap Helicarrier engines, and a variety of other things, had all died on his throat. He hadn’t expected the compliment.

‘Shit, Jane, are you sure?’ Darcy Lewis’s surprised tone shook him back to the present day.

‘Sorry, Darce, I know their money is handy, but I can’t-’

‘I don’t care about the money,’ said Darcy Lewis. ‘I just meant are you sure you want to include that many swear words in your resignation letter. Like, they are the men in black. They can arrest you.’

‘They also tried to nuke me!’

Tony gestured for Bruce to wait a moment and hurried over, with what he hoped was a winning smile. ‘Well, goverment, what can you do?’ he said.

Jane Foster regarded him suspiciously.

‘ _I know Dr Foster is your type of hire,_ ’ Fury had said that morning, as he was on his way out.

‘ _Why? Because she tried to kill me a bunch? You know that wasn’t actually what we were looking for those times, right? HR have gotten better at screening for that._ ’

‘ _Because she’s smart. Because she’s got ideas that you couldn’t dream of and the skills to back them up. But she’s attached to SHIELD, and after everything that’s happened, we need to keep a close eye on her work. Besides, she’s hardly the type to go after big corporate dollars. There’s not a lot you can offer her._ ’

‘ _Uh, we approached her when she was in college. I think you’ll find if anything you poached her from us._ ’

‘ _Just let it be, Stark._ ’

‘I hear you might be looking for a job,’ Tony said to Jane Foster, smile undimmed. As Fury had pointed out, she was something kinda special in the brains department. Too bad for SHIELD he was going to win this round.

She blinked at him. ‘You hear what?’

‘I mean, I just heard you talk about your resignation,’ he said, pointing to the phone she was holding. For someone who had shot at him only a couple of days before, Tony felt it was kinda pushing it that she was still scowling at him. He was used to that, though, and he handed her his card.

She tried to hand it back. ‘I don’t work in energy-’

Darcy reached over and snatched the card from her hands before Tony could refuse to accept its return. ‘Thanks, Mr Stark,’ she said chirpily. ‘We’ll definitely consider your offer, but as I’m sure you can imagine, we’re looking forward to a bit of a vacation and some time to figure out the future.’

‘Darcy-’ began Jane Foster. They had a silent argument with each other using only their eyes. ‘What is your offer?’ demanded Jane of him, at last. She still sounded insultingly ungrateful.

‘Since apparently wormholes are a real thing, I’m going to create a department dedicated to researching them. I’ll need some full time employees, and some freelance consultants. And assistants and admin staff and all kinds of non-scientific roles,’ he added, since he suspected Darcy Lewis was part of the package.

Foster pursed her lips. ‘I don’t want a job,’ she said, with significantly less grace than people Tony personally headhunted normally had. He remembered the _Merchant of Death_ pamphlet and guessed that this was technically still an improvement.

‘See ya, then,’ he said, grinning as he turned. He was pretty sure she’d at least take him up on some consultancy. He knew what sort of money academic researchers made, after all. 

‘Wait!’

He turned back, smile broadening. _Too bad, Fury._

‘Can you call a press conference about the attack?’

That made him pause. He hadn’t expected that. ‘Can I what?’

‘It’s just… the whole story is going to leak, isn’t it?’ she said. He frowned. ‘I mean, my involvement. What I did.’

‘I… think that’s pretty likely,’ he admitted. ‘I’m not planning on saying anything. I doubt the other Avengers are either. But there’ll be cellphone footage, and SHIELD agents gossiping to emergency services workers, and maybe even some of Loki’s crowd of minions. The press always gets there in the end.’

‘Thor thought it would,’ she said. There was a touch of false bravado in how she stood, sticking out her chin, looking somewhere over his shoulder. ‘He didn’t know the media of this world, but he said stories always get told. And… he said not everyone believes them. Even on Asgard, where brainwashing via magic is an accepted fact of life. People think… the victims do things on purpose. That it wasn’t brainwashing. That they’re just lying because they lost, to protect themselves.’

Tony felt a lurch of sympathy tinged with guilt because, well, hadn’t that been his first assumption? ‘So you want a press conference?’

‘I can hide and hope and wait for people to find out, and have them think I’m crazy or evil or both. Or I can rip the bandaid off and tell them myself.’

He whistled softly. ‘Once you open that can of worms, you know there’s no going back, right?’

She squared her shoulders. ‘I’d rather tell my story than be a… victim or a villain in someone else’s. I thought you might be able to help.’ 

Tony had to give her that one. And he couldn’t help but being… kinda impressed. She had guts. He was definitely going to have to convince her on Stark Industries.

‘That I can absolutely do,’ he said. ‘Come on. Let’s go back to the tower. We’ll have dinner and do some media training and you can meet Pep and hear about all the great benefits Stark Industries offers while I call some of my favourite reporters.’

Darcy Lewis nudged Foster’s arm enthusiastically. _Some_ people showed the right sort of attitude to a personal dinner invitation with Iron Man, Tony thought to himself. 

‘All right,’ said Foster. ‘But I’m still not working for you.’

Tony shot her another winning smile. By all accounts, Foster had risked her ass grabbing the Tesseract to save him from being squashed in a singularity. That basically made her an Avenger. She was technically the one who’d created that possibility of a singularity, but that just made him all the more determined to get her on his side, even if that meant a charm offensive that might get him in trouble with a Norse God. The risk seemed entirely worth it.

‘Just come to dinner,’ he said, as winningly as he could. ‘And you should meet Bruce properly. Not just as the Jolly Green Giant. You’ll like each other. Plus my friend Rhodey’s coming to town. He’s a rocket scientist; you’ll like him too. And I know you’ll like my R&D department. I’ve got so many toys.’

Foster scowled again, and came with him, and he mentally allocated her a set of rooms and a floor of labs in the new design for Stark Tower as they went. He was going to safeguard the future of the planet if it was the last thing he did, burning darkness and nightmares and alien invaders be damned.

~*~

It wasn’t until later when he was gloating to Rhodey about Foster’s (begrudging) agreement to email him her latest paper and how Fury had lost out, that Rhodey pointed out the obvious. Nick Fury had known Jane Foster for long enough to have realised _exactly_ how quickly she’d be quitting SHIELD and how important keeping an eye on her work was.

‘Next time you try and win against the best spy in the US, Tony, you should probably think about whether or not he wants you to do the thing you’re about to do.’

‘Goddamnit, how does he always get me?’

~*~

‘How fare the stars?’

‘Unchanged since the last time you asked, my prince.’ Heimdall had a fond smile, which Thor did his best to return without too much embarrassment. 

‘I hope now we might fix the bridge?’ he asked. 

Heimdall turned to him. ‘Work starts tomorrow.’

‘Then I will start to train the warriors for war.’ He looked down to the ragged edge, splintering crystals glittering with colours, then turned back to Heimdall. ‘My mother pled for mercy. Loki is imprisoned with no hope of escape, but he lives.’

‘I know.’

‘Yes, I suppose you do,’ agreed Thor, thinking of Heimdall’s sight. It was an easier thought than any of his brother. ‘Do you ever tire of seeing everything?’

Heimdall gave him a soft smile. ‘Do you ever tire of your magic?’

Miles away, Thor felt the dark clouds that rolled and tumbled in a natural storm, as close as the hairs on the back of his hand blown in the breeze at the end of the bridge. Across the city the warmth of the sun fell, as if on his skin, but at the edge the clean coolness of rain would soon begin, refreshing the land, refreshing him. ‘Not even a little,’ he said. The world had been so closed without it, when his father had banished him. He’d thought he might go mad. He turned back towards the edge, to the stars and the darkness. ‘Is she all right?’

‘She looks skywards,’ said Heimdall. ‘Even now she thinks of how to build a bridge.’

‘Her life’s work,’ said Thor. He felt his lips twitch upwards. ‘I am glad it has not been poisoned for her.’

‘No, but-’

‘But?’ His voice rose unbidden, sudden fear gripping him once more.

‘But the Tesseract left her with knowledge, more than she should have. I cannot see what else it has left her with.’

‘I am sure she is glad of that knowledge,’ said Thor cautiously. ‘Midgard’s healers detected nothing to worry about.’ He tightened his grip on Mjolnir without even thinking. If there was but a chance that Jane was in danger-

‘Well you had best hope this war is over quickly, or she’ll find her way here herself,’ said Heimdall, tone lighter once more.

‘Good,’ said Thor firmly.

‘Your father may disagree.’

Thor ignored that. He would return to Jane, and if he was late, and she found him first? All the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone who stuck with it to the end! Fingers crossed one day I will write the sequel idea in my head!


End file.
